


Maybe You're Something Else?

by CaptainMVF



Series: Five Nights at Carta's Trilogy [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Gen, I hope, also it takes place in the same canon verse as Seven Night Goals, but it's the typical principal of FNAF all the way, fun for all ages, none of the original characters apear sorry, plus it's going to be a trilogy, so this should be fun, there's only one guy robot though but he's cool, they're all my ocs in my oc-story okay, they're also androids or android-ish, this is for general audiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-02 11:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 88,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4058236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainMVF/pseuds/CaptainMVF
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caleb Squaire begins work as the night watcher over at a New Hampshire location for Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Maybe he can survive the wrath of fifteen robots for five nights a week?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Foolish Man

**Author's Note:**

> Yo I’ve been working on this for a few days and I hope to make ten chapters per part in this trilogy. So please enjoy the first twenty pages that I worked hard to write!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb Squaire gets the job and stays for the listed eight hours on his first night, but the job is more than it seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo I’ve been working on this for a few days and I hope to make ten chapters per part in this trilogy. So please enjoy the first twenty pages that I worked hard to write!

New Hampshire is a nice place to live and be a part of.

There was an average-looking man by the name of Caleb Squaire walking down a friendly sidewalk while the auburn colored leaves above fell peacefully from the tall oaks that loomed over the street. It was nearly three in the afternoon and the sun was starting to set, signaling for the end of the day for humans, old and young alike.

Caleb stopped in front of the large building, his destination, looking up at it in mixed distaste. He was currently looking for a job, but the only job that seemed easy or would work well with him was the night shift position for the building in front of him.

Taking a steady breath, Caleb stepped forward and pushed the doors open, letting the cool air conditioning refresh him. Sound trickled into his ears as he could hear children screaming and adults chattering away with one another.

He walked over to the front desk, ahead of him, and spoke to the lady behind it, “Hello, I would like to ask about your offer for the night shift?”

She looked up at Caleb and studied him for a moment before nodding, “Yes, I believe that the position is still open. Would you care to take it?”

Caleb blinked in surprise, “Really? I’d like that, please.”

“Okay, please read and sign this contract over,” she pushed over a sheet of paper.

“Uh…” he skimmed it over and signed the bottom. “Alright.”

“Very well,” the employee stood up and pushed in her chair. “If you would please wait here, I’ll go and get one of the day time guards to give you a tour.”

After she turned and disappeared behind the ‘Employees Only’ door, Caleb did a silent cheer. It was his first time out today and he had hit it lucky, finding himself a better job on the first try.

The reason for Caleb’s recent bout of job-searching was a personal one, for his grandfather had just been diagnosed with Leukemia and didn’t have the funds for chemotherapy. Caleb’s grandmother had spread the news and had soon enlisted the help of the rest of the family to be able to raise a certain amount of money for the chemo.

Previously, Caleb had worked at a floral shop in the town’s mall for a minimum of nine dollars per hour, four days a week. It was a job that he hadn’t cared for much, since it was only a job he’d kept for the easy money making. Now he had found a better job, working on a specialized branch of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria for eleven dollars an hour, five nights a week.

The receptionist returned with a short, smiling guard woman with dark skin before she sat back down at the counter.

“Hello there,” the day time guard greeted as she stepped behind the counter and over to Caleb. “I’m Marisa, the mobile guard, and I’ll be showing you around today!”

“Thanks,” Caleb nodded to her. “My name is Caleb Squaire and I’m here for the-”

“Night position,” she nodded back. “I know, that’s a great position you’ve earned!”

Marisa then giggled before gesturing for Caleb to walk with her, “The night position is a job that many have tried to get but suddenly quit overnight, it’s so high in payment because of the challenge it induces on employees.”

“Excuse me?” Caleb looked at her weirdly. “There’s a challenge?”

“Yeah!” she led him to a large pair of purple curtains with slips of music escaping through from the room behind it. “Basically, we have to the watch the entire building for eight hours and make sure no one breaks in or anything suspicious doesn’t happen. You even get to wander around after hours and check out how everything works behind the scenes.”

“That sounds rather boring…but exciting.” the new employee said under his breathe.

Marisa pulled back the curtains and let Caleb enter first. He was met with a large room with two open doorways on the left and straight ahead and at least ten tables in total sat in front of a tall stage. Small children, between the ages of seven and twelve, sat in the cheap chairs that matched with the table, eating pizza, cake, and ice cream as they wore party hats. There were dozen or star ornaments hanging from the industrialized ceiling and reflecting in the black and white tile floor.

The lights in the room dimmed, signaling for all movement to stop and for the audience to quiet down as a spotlight from the ceiling was aimed at the purple curtains that shielded whatever was on the stage.

“Hey everybody!” a high-pitched robotic voice echoed through the room.

“Hello boys and girls!” another mechanical voice, but much quieter followed.

“How are you doing today?” a much deeper mechanical voice finished.

Children cheered as more spotlights shown on the curtains, making Caleb wince and nearly put his hands on his ears. Marisa just grinned as she watched the excitement build.

“We can’t hear you!” the three voices said in unison.

The children, with a few of the adults, in the room responded in kind as they cheered louder.

“Alright!” the curtains folded back to reveal the three mysterious beings. “Who’s ready for a fantastic show?”

The children cheered and clapped their hands as the speakers walked onto their positions on stage.

They were androids, each wearing a colorful outfit and equipped with some kind of accessory in their hands.

The first one, on the far left, was the bearer of the high-pitched voice and the shortest of the bunch. She had light blue and navy stripped hair that flowed down to her waist and lilac eye shadow and cheeks. Her prosthetic skin was as white as milk, but had a faint blue tiny to it that couldn’t be detected by a normal child’s eye. The robots’ eyes were black and white stripped, to suggest a discolor from the factory it was made in.

She wore a royal blue vest over a cotton candy blue stripped dress shirt with blue five-pointed star cufflinks. Her dress pants were nearly the same shade of blue as her shirt but had a white stripe going down the sides. The dress shoes were a neat cream color with light blue lines in the center and milk chocolate brown tips. She held a red electric guitar that she would pretend to strum.

The android in the middle was the largest and was the bearer of the deep voice. She had pink hair with electric blue tips that were colored on that went down to her arm pits. Her eyes matched her hair, a solid pink with blue rims. The makeup she wore made her have rosy red cheeks and eye shadow. Her canines were sharper than they were supposed to be, suggesting another disorder at the factory. The skin was fairly rosy as well.

She wore a light brown vest over a red and white striped barber shop dress shirt with diamond cufflinks. Her skirt was a burnt gold with white frills on the ends; it fell down to her knees and poorly hid her prosthetic kneecaps and calves. She wore brown boots that went up a little past her ankles. There was a microphone in her hand that she would gesture and pretend to speak out of.

The last android was pencil thin and was the one with the quiet and melodic voice. She had red hair that was tipped with lightning yellow streaks that made her head look like it was on fire, it went down to the middle of her back. Her skin was pale and nearly didn’t make her look as human, her cheeks and eye shadow were a bright pink and she wore heavy mascara.

She wore a poofy yellow dress with white frills; it even exposed her shoulders and a bit above of her knees. There was a white cloth labeled ‘LET’S PARTY!’ that was tied around her neck like a bib and had confetti markings on it. Her shoes were yellow flats that reached her ankles and had yellow ribbons spiraled around her calves. She carried a small plastic cupcake with pink frosting, a lit candle, and large eyes that seemed to stare into one’s soul.

Music blared from the speakers in the room as the androids on stage began dancing and lip-synching to the song.

“There are times when I’m way down on my luck,”

“I only need to say a few magic words to get me going.”

“Rock. Play. Eat. Party.”

Before any other song lyrics were spoken, Caleb was pulled into another room by Marisa, “Come on, I still got to show you the other places!”

She eased him past the doorway on the other side of the room and around children who were dancing or cheering on the robots on stage.

Once out into a large hallway that snaked towards the left into an L-shape, Caleb had to ask, “Is this a children’s theatre?”

“Yeah, dummy!” his guide flicked his nose. “The specialty of the Freddy Fazbear’s franchise is to serve pizza and provide cute animatronics singing songs! This, however, is a special branch where the chosen animatronic designs have been made into nine female and one male android.”

Caleb was tongue-tied at the weird unbalance of genders for the robots, “Uhh…why just one guy-bot?”

 Marisa just shrugged, “Who knows! Maybe the company wasn’t happy with an all-girl cast and decided to even it out!”

She gestured to a door next to him, “Back to the tour, that’s our kitchen. There’s a complete set of foods, tools, and a walk-in freezer, for all a cooks’ needs.”

They walked up to another door a few yards down, “This is the Parts and Services room, this is where we keep parts for the robots for when they break or malfunction. I hear that there are plenty of blueprints in here as well, but I’ve never had the chance to see them.”

“I think that would be a bit redundant though,” Caleb replied. “I can’t see how blueprints would help fix fake skin or a plastic eyeball.”

“Oh no,” Marisa shook her head. “The blueprints aren’t supposed to be for the exoskeletons, for the company just hires a designer, there sheets are for the endoskeleton beneath.”

Caleb’s eyebrows were raised, “So there is just another layer on the robots? Wow, I never thought about that.”

“I would show you,” she ran her hand down the front of the large steel door, “but its company policy that we can’t open the room during operating hours. Management claims that children could come in and get hurt or damage equipment.”

Caleb shrugged nonchalantly, “Fair enough.”

They exited the hall and went behind another veil of purple curtains before they entered another room similar to the first one they had gone through, but much bigger. Caleb spied that there were three robots that looked nearly the same that were on the first stage.

The first one to the far left was taller than the previous blue one and wore a purple suit with a matching top hat. It was the male android that Marisa had talked about earlier, judging by his chiseled facial features and boyish hair. His sleeves were rolled up and he held a tri-colored guitar that look like it was made of candy corn. The hair on his head was sandy colored but it had dark grey shades towards the back. His ears were outstretched to the sides, highly bat-like and made Caleb wonder if the manufacturing company had messed up again. The android’s eyes were tri-colored like candy corn as well. He wore a lavender vest over a white dress shirt and grey dress pants, with a matching lavender top hat with a red ribbon on top of his head.

The second one looked to be the largest android he’d seen today. She was at least eight feet tall and was the lead singer, judging by the microphone in her hands. Her hair was bright red and went past her bottom in neat curls as she wore a black top hat with a red ribbon. She wore nearly the same outfit as her counterpart in the other room but her skirt went all the way down to her knees and was only gold in the front. Her brown boots looked like they were a part of her body. What scared Caleb the most was her face, as it gave off a plastered smile that looked nearly forced and her eye color was bleached white (yet another thought to if the androids came out of a factory that didn’t get the orders right).

The last one was an average height and looked the most normal of the bunch, minus the grey hair. She wore nearly the same outfit as her counterpart in the other room but the dress was longer and had flowing sleeves. The bib she wore said, ‘LET’S EAT!’ and was circular. Her eyes were like bright sapphires as her hair went a little past her shoulders. She held a large plastic cupcake in her hands.

“Thanks for listening!” the three said in unison before the curtains closed in front of them, children and parents applauding.

“We hold a showing every thirty minutes,” Marisa commented. “As soon as one show ends in one room, another one begins.”

“Smart,” the new hire responded.

“It’s just business,” she led him into another hallway that was stationed towards the south of the room.

The two entered the hall and Caleb found that it was a place for parents to talk, more likely. There were adults milling about, chatting, as they tried to enjoy their stay at the children’s restaurant. Down the hall, Marisa pointed towards the restrooms before they took a left and entered the security office.

“Hey Derek!” she waved at a green-haired guy who was staring intensely at his laptop, probably watching the cameras. He wore a set of expensive headphones that were blasting music into his ears.

“He doesn’t talk a lot but he’s great at his job,” she noted towards Caleb. “If you see him not looking at a screen, he’ll be a bit more sociable.”

Caleb took a minute to check out the office. It had three doorways, two on the right and left of the desk and a larger one in front. The large entree way channeled out into the main hallway of the building while the left door exited into the left hall and the right door was closed. There were two open vents that were next to the adjacent doors, each, and were nearly an inch away from the floor. On the north wall, not blocking the large doorway, were large televisions that looked way out of date and covered in dust. Posters of the different robots and of what the children drew adorned the walls, nearly blocking the different shades of blue wallpaper.

Marisa guided him back into the main hallway, “Come on, we still have two more places to visit.”

Caleb obliged and followed her as she pointed towards the three different party rooms and then opened the door that led to a room labeled ‘Kid’s Cove’. They entered and Caleb was met with a mess of toddlers with cake, ice cream, and pizza stains mixing with paint, crayons, and other types of creative fluids that were possibly smeared by the kids.

There was a faint static sound in the corner of the room, where a bundle of small children had gathered. Upon further examination, each child was eagerly jamming a piece of metal or plastic into a large metal bundle that made a screeching noise every time it gained or lost a part. Caleb inched a bit closer and saw that the children were taking apart and putting back together one of the robots without parts of their exoskeleton.

The robot had two heads, one that was their endoskeleton head that was a bit chipped at the side and the other was like a regular human’s head but with white hair that was stained yellow and was missing an eye. It had three hands, two feet, and a pillar with a red wire where its left arm was supposed to be. the normal head and right arm were in their normal positions while the extra head was jammed into its back, one of the arms took the place of the left leg, both legs were in the right leg’s position, and the final arm was jammed into the crevice between the waist and spinal area of the endoskeleton.

In Caleb’s opinion, it looked like a human-metal-spider-centipede mix. He wasn’t even sure if he could call it a ‘she’ anymore.

“Poor girl,” Marisa sighed before she ushered him out of the room.

The two walked back into the smaller stage room before taking a right into the Arcade, where numerous electronic contraptions were being played by children of all ages. There were large machines with buttons and swivel sticks and ping-pong ball machines that jingled and rattled. Caleb could see a miniature carousel with a small bear, rabbit, chicken, and fox being used by a few toddlers while their parents watched.

“Hi!”

Caleb jumped as he heard a high-pitched voice below him. He looked down to see a small robotic child holding a plastic balloon and a wooden sign that read ‘BALLOONS’ while made of plastic.

She wore a cap and t-shirt that had the same blue, red, and white striped design, a navy skirt that went down past her knees, and little brown shoes. Her hair was red, styled nearly the same as the large lead singer, as were her eyes matched the red-haired android in the yellow dress. She had rosy cheeks and long eyelashes as she smiled straight ahead with a blank look.

“Hello!”

“She’s motion-censored,” Marisa explained. “If something moves in front of her, then she’ll respond to get your attention.”

Caleb was guided towards a small room in the back that was labeled ‘PRIZE CORNER’ and had shelves full of plushies, action figures, and smaller devices of entertainment. Marisa moved him in front of a large present box that was white with red ribbons, he looked up to see an X hanging from the ceiling with five wires coming out of it and entering the inside of the large box.

“We have a special robot here that interacts with the children, since she gives the birthday child their special prize.” she begun to wind a large screw that was attached to the box.

She finished and took a step back, music flowing out of the box that sounded all-too familiar to Caleb. He began to sweat and breathe heavily as the song ’Pop Goes the Weasel’ begun to end.

Once it begun the last verse, there was a clicking noise as the top of the box slid open and a monochrome figure jumped up as soon as the tune played ‘Pop! Goes the weasel…’

“Oh ho ho ho! Who would like a prize~?” she bobbed with her hands outstretched.

Caleb wanted to scream in fright at the robot that looked like a doll. She was at least five feet tall and had dark hair with darker streaks, wore a mask with rosy cheeks and small lips, purple tear streaks, and black painted-on eye lashes, had puffy shirt and skirt to match. Her shirt was a smoky grey color with three white buttons going down her front, her sleeves were puffed up and a darker grey color as there were white lines on dots on them. The skirt she wore was darker than her shirt but not as so compared to her sleeves, it even had two white lines going around it and white specks at the bottom. Her arms, legs, and neck were an inky black as her arms had at least four white stripes traveling up her arms and at least six more up her legs, there were none on her neck. The wires above connected to the back of her hands, around her ankles, and on top of her head. She had three fingers (two fingers and a thumb each) on both of her hands.

Caleb took an uneasy step back; for god’s sake he was terrified of clowns and their merry culture.

The puppet-marionette-jack-in-the-box-thing leaned forward, as if expecting a present “Who’s the birthday child?”

If Marisa hadn’t have flipped a switch behind the counter to disable the robot from moving or talking, then the new guard would have fainted right then and there. She picked up one of the robots’ arms, “Don’t worry, she can’t get out of her box, she’s magnetized by the cables and the bottom of the box.”

Caleb observed the day guard show him the circular clamp around the puppet’s wrist, it looked very sturdy and unmoving. Upon further examination, the puppet’s legs were straight and looked bolted tot eh floor underneath.

“The magnets are electric, they only work if the power is on.” she set the arms down and pushed the puppet back into her box, then pulling the box closed. “The reason for the magnets is because some children think that she is prize, at times, and will try to yank her out of the box.”

Once the two returned to the entrance room, Marisa asked for Caleb’s measurements.

“Uh…” he thought for a moment. “I’m an adult small, I think.”

She nodded, “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Caleb watched her go behind the front desk and into the main office and returned three minutes layer with a plastic bag full of fabric in her hands. She approached him, “Here you go, I got your uniform here.”

He received it and opened the bag, looking over its contents, “Why do I need to wear a uniform at night?”

“In case someone from the outside sees you in the building, they don’t want to think that there’s an intruder in the building and not an employee.”

He nodded, twirling the blue cap with the company’s logo in his hand, “Makes sense.”

“You start tonight at eleven pm,” she handed him a copy of the keys to the building. “If that’s alright? You can start tomorrow night if you have plans tonight.”

“No, that’s fine.” he pocketed the keys. “I’ll come in, ready for my shift, on time.”

“Great!” Marisa cheered. “As you know, you’ll be working eight hours, from eleven to seven. You’ll pick up on what to do once your job starts, it should be easy.”

“Thank you,” Caleb gave his new work partner a small smile.

“You should also bring something to entertain yourself, since you’ll be here for a while.” she gave him the last piece of information and he was on his way, back home.

Caleb returned that night in his new uniform and a book in his hands. He unlocked the door and entered the building, amazed by how eerie it was without the lights on. A light in the main hallway caught his attention and he followed it until he saw that it was the light in the security office.

The new guard approached the desk and found two flashlights, a large bear mask that covered one’s entire head, a tablet that was currently powered off, and two extra batteries. Caleb sat down in the wooden chair and looked around from his new viewpoint, he felt smaller than usual as he looked around the large room. He thought that the dark abyss of the hallway was not so fun to stare at, nor were the dusty TVs set in front of him.

Caleb looked to his left but his view wasn’t any better since the left doorway and air vent were also gateways into darkness. He then looked to his right and found that the door had been opened; Caleb thought that it probably led to the Prize Corner.

Whichever way he turned was only met with darkness to him, so he picked up the flashlight and checked it out. He flicked the switch and it turned on, much to his surprise. Caleb then aimed it down the hall and found it easier to look through, much to his relief.

He then decided to use it on the doorways but decided against it when he turned to the left, there were three buttons on his desk labeled ‘DOOR’, ‘DOOR LIGHT’, and ‘VENT LIGHT’. Curious, he pressed the DOOR LIGHT button and was met with a light turning on right outside in the left doorway. It flickered for a bit and Caleb stared out, a bit more at ease with the darkness. He did the same with the VENT LIGHT and was met with similar results with the left vent.

Caleb then pressed the DOOR button and nearly jumped out of his chair when he saw a large wall of enforced steel slam down into the left doorway. He stared at the new find in question of what the designers were thinking when making the building. Caleb pressed the button again and the wall opened back up.

He turned to the right and found the same kind of buttons on the other side of the desk. Caleb also tried them out and was met with similar results.

Checking his wristwatch, it was currently thirteen past eleven. Sighing, Caleb leaned back against the wooden chair and closed his eyes, sleep trying to lure him away. Marisa had been right to bring something to entertain him, book he decided that he would read later.

The phone on the desk rang, startling him. He sat back up and stared at the old-fashioned red phone, wondering if it had been the source of the noise.

It rung again and Caleb reached over, putting the caller on speaker, “Hello?”

“Hello! Hello? Oh, hi!” a young woman responded from the other end. “I’m an employee here, yeah, and I…uh, I used to work the night shift before I was transferred to the day shift.”

“Oh, okay, so-” he was interrupted by her.

“I’m supposed to record messages for, uh, you! Yeah, to help you through the night.”

Caleb sat back as he listened to what she had to say.

“Anyway, I have to, erhm, read the company policy letter, but that shouldn’t take long.”

There was the sound of paper rustling during the message, “Uh, okay. So, as I quote: ‘Welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a magical place full of-’ skip that ‘-please know that the company is not responsible for damage of person, lost, or death-’ skip that ‘-a missing person’s report can be filled within sixty days of vanish-’ skip that ‘-please conserve power-’ I will get to that ‘-and have a goodnight.’”

A few recited pieces of the report made Caleb cringe, what did they mean? Missing person? Death?

“Okay, now I’ll give you the run-down. You basically have to, uh, sit in that chair for eight hours a night and check on the building to make sure no one…uh, comes in and wrecks the pace, you know? You can move around too, yeah, but I wouldn‘t…eh, risk it.”

Caleb was beginning to grow increasingly annoyed by her stuttering voice, wondering what she was hiding.

“So, I should also warn you that the robots in here, they do have a habit of, erm, moving around. They’re originally designed to lock up with an added mechanism but the company didn’t want to pay for it, yeah, so instead they just, uhm, keep them unlocked all the time. They’ll eventually wander around the building, since, uh…uhm…they have this thing that’s programmed into them that makes them find noise, since children like to do that, yes. The robots will move around until they get to your room, the only room in the place at the moment with sound.”

This was not good; there were now plenty of red flags popping up in Caleb’s mind as he continued to listen to the message.

“But don’t you worry no- if they come i-in, yeah, for the company has provided you with ways to lead them away or out of the office. There should be a Freddy Fazbear mask to help you hide from the robots, if they come really near. J-just put it on quickly and often enough, yes, to make them think that you’re just an attraction or something that blends into, yeah, the background, erhm.”

Caleb picked up the large mask and stared at its face in wonder. Could something like this fit onto his head and make the robots think that he was just something mundane or uninteresting? He fitted it onto his head as the woman on the phone continued.

“You’re also running on an extra generator that’s used for after-hours. Uh…in other words, you’re on minimal power that will run-out if you keep on pressing those buttons and, uhm, yeah that stuff. For the flashlight, you’ll get two extra batteries for it each night, so save up your power and conserve it, yeah.”

Caleb quickly checked to see if any of the buttons were on, thankfully they weren’t.

“The tablet on your desk, hopefully you have it, that’s what you can use to see the robots walking through the halls. If you turn it on, there’s a, uh, switch on the side, you can flip through the cameras by touching the screen.”

Caleb complied and flipped a red switch at the side, he had to wait a moment for it to boot up. Once it was up and running, Caleb was looking through the camera in the room labeled ‘Stage B’ that showed the three faces of the blue- suited, pink-haired, and yellow-highlighted robots on stage. They were each staring at the curtains that were closed in front of them, blankly.

“There’s even a mechanic installed into the screen for one of the cameras, uh…it’s for, eh, keeping one of them in place for the rest of the night. If you, please, if you would switch over to the Prize Corner’s camera, you will see a timer on the screen. Press the square dial on the screen and it will help rewind it.”

The new guard flipped over to the mentioned camera screen and saw the timer; it looked about three-quarters full and slowly depleting itself already. There was a calm melody playing inside of the room that was being picked up by the camera’s audio. He pressed down on the square labeled ‘rewind music box’ and did so, seeing the timer fill back up again.

“It keeps…one of the robots from moving at night. Just, ah, keep it wound and it won’t come out.”

There was a nasty feeling in Caleb’s gut that the robot she was talking about was the…thing that Marisa had introduced to him. Keeping that thing wound up was now one of Caleb’s top priorities.

 “There will be robots at your doors, so if they’re there, just close the door before they get in, that’ll shut, er, them out for a while. The doors do take a lot of power away, though, so it’s not the best to keep them closed all through the night. It would be better if they did, yeah?”

Everything about the design of this room was starting to fall into place.

“If one of them is peeking out through the vent, coming down the hall, or in the office, god f-forbid, then just quickly fl-fwip your mask on and they’ll surely go away. Bright light is even supposed to mess with their servos, so flickering the flashlight is a good idea, even from the cameras.”

Caleb took the flashlight and placed it at a safe distance, just in case.

“Your tablet can be used up to forty-eight hours, plus the staff recharges it in the morning, so you don’t have to worry about overusing it. Once all of your other power reserves do run out, however, then you’ll be left defenseless and only with the Freddy mask and tablet for help. I wouldn’t risk it, man.”

Caleb took this moment to switch through the different cameras, looking over what was in each room. The mangled robot from earlier was leaned up against a wall with other parts that had scattered throughout the day. That balloon child was staring away from the camera, looking over at the entrance of the Arcade. The other three stage-based robots were standing still, also staring at the curtains like their counterparts in the other room. He wound the music box once again, his phobia making him cringe as he thought of the thing in the box.

“In short: check the cameras, flicker the lights, wind the music box, dodge the robots, and conserve power. If you do that, then you’ll be fine, that’s right. Good night!”

The phone clicked off, signaling that the message was over.

Caleb put the tablet down and picked the flashlight back up, rolling it between his palms. He let the message sink in; there was more than what met the eye with what he had read in the job description. There was also the chance that the robots wouldn’t journey into his room, but would either wander around very slowly in other rooms or would just not move. What the woman in the message had said could just be a warning if there was a bug in the system, it wouldn’t apply to him.

An hour passed and at one point Caleb picked up his book and read a few pages to try and steer his mind away from fear and boredom. He checked the tablet from time-to-time to make sure that the androids weren’t moving. Caleb was holding the flashlight again when he checked his watch: it was a little past twelve-thirty, he had almost seven more hours left.

He put the flashlight back down and picked the tablet back up, looking through certain rooms he hadn’t visited today. The party rooms were empty and clean, ready to be used tomorrow. There was a strange occurrence with the Kitchen camera where the screen was black and only the audio could be heard. Parts and Services was coated with darkness, so he had to flicker the light to see three scrapped robots leaning against the walls, but they looked uninteresting to him.

It was then that Caleb had switched to see the robots behind the larger stage and had stopped, his eyes widening.

The guy robot was gone.

There had been hope in young Caleb Squaire that the robots wouldn’t move, but it was gone now. He quickly moved to the area in front of the stage to see if it had traveled far and was met with horrific results. The purple-clad robot was standing in the middle of the tables and was staring up at the curtains in a mixture of awe and blankness.

Caleb stared long at the image on the screen; in fact, it was a total of five minutes until the robot slowly turned towards the camera and tilted his head. The screen turned to static and was disabled.

Caleb blinked and shook the tablet a few times, trying to get it online again. He gasped when the screen returned to normal again, but this time without the android in it. Caleb flipped through the cameras to rooms surrounding that one until he came upon the camera in the ‘employee hallway’ depicting the android slowly moving into the frame.

He flipped over to the other stage’s camera and found that the android’s blue counterpart was gone. In a frantic search, he flipped through the surrounding cameras until he saw the robot in Party Room A with her guitar in hand.

Caleb nearly leapt out of his chair as he saw how close the robot had gotten to him. What horrified him even further was that he hadn’t heard her in the large-freaking-gaping hallway in front of him.

She stared at the camera as she tilted her head left and right, in a hypnotizing manner that a king cobra snake was akin to do before they struck their prey. What she was doing looked like she was more curious than threatening. She held her guitar as if she couldn’t decide if she wanted to drop it or keep it with her.

Caleb looked back at where the other moving robot was and was relieved to see him standing still with his hands over the wall next to him. The robot looked like he was steadying himself, or at least winded, but that was hard to say since this was a child’s entertainment device and wouldn’t have a set of iron lungs. He looked slightly to his right before back at the wall, the action questioning Caleb.

A moment later, the male android pressed himself off of the wall and started down the hallway, towards the restrooms. Caleb switched back to the room where the other robot was and saw her lowering her guitar and placing it against one of the tables before slinking out of the camera’s view.

He put the tablet down and quickly equipped his flashlight, flashing it towards the main hall. There was no movement.

Caleb picked the tablet back up and flashed back towards the party room only to find it empty, he looked up from his tablet swiftly but nothing caught his eye.

At this point, he was frightened by the two swiftly approaching androids and was hoping that they would try to get to his office but would be driven off by the lights, doors, and the mask. If he could get the blue robot into his line of sight then he could flash her or put on the mask, but the purple one was coming in from the left and Caleb could use any tool to defend himself against him. He wasn’t afraid of them; he just found it oddly creepy that these large robots were wandering around trying to search for a way to distract themselves.

Caleb hoped that this job was just going to be full of large robots bumping around during the night and that he’d come out after five nights with his well-earned money. He was starting to think that his job should be renamed to ‘robot babysitter’ instead.

It took Caleb a moment to calm down before he could find the blue robot, who was now staring into the camera in Party Room B with a blank look on her face. Caleb made a noise in the back of his throat as he looked dead set into her eyes, feeling like this robot knew where he was and stressed that he hadn‘t seen her in the hallway again. He flipped back to check on the other one and find him entering the West Hall, edging closer to the left door. The male robot stared up at the camera as he stood in the doorway on the right of the camera.

Feeling like his moment had come; Caleb pressed down on the left door button and saw the door slide closed. He let out a breathe, hoping that the robot would turn back around and away from the office.

A certain noise interrupted his thoughts as he swiftly flickered the flashlight in the main hallway’s direction, he could have sworn he’d seen a flash of blue.

Another noise arose, but this time it came from the right air vent. It sounded a bit distant, almost like it had come from the other end of the vent. He checked the cameras and found the blue robot next to the other end of the vent, open.

There were many thoughts still going through Caleb’s mind, like the fact that a robot would just suddenly yank off the opening to an air shaft out of boredom. Maybe this robot just didn’t seem to grasp that she could have just went straight down the hallway and into the office or was just curious and wanted to explore a bit.

His thoughts dashed away from him once he saw her climb into the vent and crawl away. He followed the vent’s path through the cameras and found her turning in towards the opening in the office. To prevents matters from worsening, he flashed her face with bright light from the camera. The sudden flashing made her stop crawling and back away from the camera in surprise.

Caleb checked back at the other robot and saw him standing next to the door, not doing much of anything as their eyes watched the camera above them. The guard couldn’t open the door as of now but he could at least flash light into their face to make them go away.

He put the tablet down but looked back at the right vent once he heard something crawling towards him. Caleb watched, paralyzed with fear, as the blue android crawled onto the floor and stood up, looking straight at him. Fumbling, he went for the large bear mask and put it on as the robot edged closer to him.

She stared into the eye sockets of his mask as she took another step, and another, and another, and another until she was nearly a foot away from the desk. Caleb pressed his back into the wooden chair, hoping that just maybe he could merge with the piece of furniture and that the robot would go away.

Suddenly, the robot arched her back and lunged towards him, “AAAAAAAAHH!”

She leaped over the desk and tackled Caleb. The guard also screamed as the large robot made him fall over with the wooden chair and onto the tiled floor.

His attacker screeched as she attempted to pull off Caleb’s given mask. At this point, Caleb was crying in fear as his heart felt like it was about to burst through his chest. He tried to protect his face as his ears rung from all of the screaming that was coming from his assailant.

The blue robot then grasped Calebs’ arms and picked him up before dragging him around the desk and down the dark hallway. Caleb cried out as the bones in his arms felt like they were about to brake, fearing for what the robot would do.

Seeing no other option, Caleb flailed and cried out to try and unhook himself from the colorful robot.

She let out a low grunt in annoyance as she tied to drag her prize back into the darkness.

Caleb finally wiggled out of her grip and fell to the floor, the Freddy mask asked as to where he could only see out of one eye piece. The android turned back around and screeched down at him in anger, her eyes half-lidded in anger. Thankfully, Caleb was fast enough to scooch back as she approached him with more angry screeches.

He scooched back until his back hit the office desk. The robot lunged back for him but Caleb, on instinct, kicked it in the chest cavity and sent it stumbling backwards. She gave a low hiss before retreating back into the blackness of the main hallway.

Caleb gasped for breathe as he ripped the Freddy mask off of his head and slumped to the floor, relieved of the threat of the blue robot.

“That was good, but you better pick up the pace.”

A voice to his left made Caleb scramble back up to his feet and stare at the left wall, “W-who’s there?”

There was a tap at the door, “Me.”

Though the answer was vague, Caleb was a hundred percent sure who it was, “You’re the blue one’s counterpart? The purple one?”

There was a low laugh on the other side, “Yes, that would be true. I go by many names by the kids: ‘Vampire’, ‘The Boy Guitar’, ‘Spooky Freak’, ‘The Purple One’…”

Caleb gulped as he edged closer towards the door, “So, you can talk?”

“Ah, so you finally ask this question.” there was a mixture of emotions in their voice that Caleb could not find a word in his personal dictionary for it. “Oh yes, I talk. Everyone in here talks, but some are better at it than others. Better yet, some are able to talk more than others. We stage performers are the best at it, but the puppet-thing and the balloon-girl are also on-par with us.”

“Well, she wasn’t talking.”

“Right, she doesn’t like to talk unless she certainly has to.” there was a period of silence for a moment. “By the way, it’s a bit rude to use certain pronouns so I’ll just tell you that her ‘official’ name is X Bon, as mine is Candy Bon.”

“Bon?” Caleb made a weird face as the word rolled off of his tongue.

“Yes, Bon, as in bunny or that rabbit mascot for the company: Bonnie. We were modeled after the original set of characters, so we’re subjected to-”

“Hold up.” the new guard interrupted him. “Why are you telling me this instead of trying to get in? If that ‘X Bon’ was trying to drag me out of the office then why aren’t you?”

Candy Bon took a moment, as if his processors were whirring out an answer for him to say. Finally, he spoke, “I am, because you forget that X Bon and I are not the only ones active for the night.”

Caleb let the words sink in for a moment before his eyes widened in realization. Darn it, he messed up.

He ran back to his desk for the flashlight and flickered it down the hall, but only for it to pick up another one of the rosy-cheeked androids coming at him. It was the red-haired one with the yellow dress, holding her plastic cupcake as she took slow steps down the main hall and towards him. What really freaked Caleb out was the fact that parts of her face, around the eyes, nose, and mouth, had been peeled off to expose her metal endoskeleton underneath.

Caleb let out a cry of horror as he flickered the flashlight at it, causing the robots moves to stop. Seeing his chance, Caleb dove to the floor- where he had tossed his mask aside -and put it back on to fool it.

There was silence in the hallway before light, plastic footsteps could be hear slowly retreating back down the hall.

Just to make sure, he flickered the flashlight a few times, he took the mask off when he couldn’t find anything.

“Is that all you got?” Caleb turned to his left to ask Candy Bon the question.

There was no answer as Caleb stood back up and walked back towards his desk. He picked the wooden chair back up and settled into it before checking back at the left door. It was oddly silent on the other side.

Caleb slowly pressed the left door button and light before seeing that the long-eared robot was gone, probably back down the hall. He checked the tablet and saw that Candy Bon was back in the left hallway, starring up at the camera with thought as their head was slightly tilted to the side.

An odd feeling shot through Caleb; the feeling that he had forgotten something. He tried to remember what he could have forgotten. Caleb had locked the house, fed his sister’s cat, eaten dinner, lock his car, checked the doors, checked the cameras-

The music box!

Swiftly, he went to the designated camera and pressed the rectangular button so that the quarter-full circle could fill back up. The melody in the background was calm, almost making Caleb think about heading to sleep.

He shook himself and checked the time: one-twenty-two in the morning.

Caleb had at least six and a half more hours of this terror to go before he could sleep safe tonight.

He groaned and rubbed his eyes, thinking about how ‘fun’ his next four nights were going to be, if he survived to tell the tale at least. For now, he was going to have to survive off of the recorded message’s advice instead of Marisa’s.

Caleb picked the tablet back up and found X Bon back in one of the party rooms, close but not so much of a threat yet. The yellow-dressed android was busy staring into the camera that was in the main hallway, so he flashed her with the light on the camera to try and confuse her. Candy Bon had yet to move again.

Paranoia taking him again, he rewound the music box just to make sure the…thing wouldn’t get out. He then checked the stages and arcade in case someone was out.

The grey-haired robot with a yellow dress was out in the tables in the main room. She stared up at the camera with wide eyes and her mouth all the way open in a creepy smile that sent chills down his spine.

He didn’t know if flashing worked on her but he did it anyway, to prevent another accident like so from earlier. If this was the key to drawing them back, then Caleb needed to use it only on the seven of them, minus the puppet-thing in the present box.

But sadly his plans nose-dived at around a quarter to four in the morning when his flashlight ran out of juice.

Caleb was busy trying to change the batteries, wind the music box, and wear the Freddy mask as X Bon was trying to reenter through the right vent. A few hours ago Caleb would have said it was easy, but he was surely wrong at the present.

“Ah ha!” he cheered as the fresh batteries slipped it and he flickered the right vent’s light to blind X Bon. There was some rapid scuffling before X Bon scooted back and out into Party Room C.

He then checked the hallway in front of him and saw faceless robot run into Party Room B, much to his surprise. Caleb checked the camera in that room and saw that she was crouching near the tables and making a b-line towards the vent.

“No!” he shook his head, threateningly. “No, don’t you dare!”

She unhooked the entrance of the vent and edged herself inside.

“WHY?!”

A few minutes later, she entered the office through the vent but Caleb was prepared by having the mask on early. She stared at him for a few moments before turning on her heel and stalking back down the main hall.

Once he was certain that she was gone, Caleb took off the mask and wound the music box before checking back at the cameras. It wasn’t long before he found the grey-haired robot making her way through the Prize Corner and into the secret right hallway that he had only just discovered tonight. The hallway wasn’t even a hall, but it looked more like a storage closet for prizes and mechanical parts for cameras. Same design applied to the left hall.

He shut the right door with a press of the button.

Oddly enough, there was a taping sound coming from that said door a few minutes later.

“Hey,” she said. “I heard from Candy that you’re a feisty one.”

He didn’t want to respond but something was telling him that he’d keep the robots happy if he did, “Yeah, so what?”

“Everyone fights back. If you put a human in a cage and prod him, he’ll be sure to rip apart the one with the stick.”

Caleb looked at the closed door, “Huh?”

“You’re slow, that’s for sure, and I thought you would be more entertaining than the last few.”

“What…happened with the last few night guards?” Caleb asked, quietly.

He was met with no response as metal heels clicked away, signaling her retreat.

“Rude,” Caleb snorted as he opened the right door.

It was then at a half-passed six in the morning that Caleb was getting his but whooped by four and a half robots, the half being the music box. Candy Bon and his partner were at both doors, Red Chic was coming down the hall, and X Bon was back in the office.

Caleb had the mask on and wasn’t staring into X Bons’ eyes as she continued to search for his figure in the office. She looked around him but not at him, to show that his disguise was working.

“Come on…” Caleb muttered under his breathe. “Any second now…” the music box was ticking away.

X Bon let out a metallic grunt before stalking away past Red Chic, the other robot following.

Caleb sighed and took off the mask as he checked the power levels on the doors with the tablet; it looked like he could get through the night. He rewound the music box.

“I say, you’re good.” Candy Bon said from behind his door.

“Yes, you are getting good at this.” his partner repeated.

“Uh…thanks?” he looked between both of the doors.

“It’s only the first night…” Candy Bon’s voice grew surprisingly dark.

Caleb sat up in his chair and looked at the left door, “What does that mean?”

 As usual, he was met with no response.

“Right,” he grunted as he went back to checking the cameras again. “I should know by now to not to expect a response out of robots who want to abduct me.”

He opened the doors, knowing the pattern that they usually liked to take after they had been closed-off from the office. Both of them would retreat and then come back later.

Once he only had about a minute to seven, Caleb began to pack up and double check that everything was clear.

He didn’t notice the soft groaning sound coming from the right doorway until it was too late. A hand clamped his shoulder and forced him to look up at the grey-haired robot, “Gotcha!”

Caleb yelped as he was then picked up by the scruff of his uniform’s jacket and was picked up out of his chair. She then dragged him around his desk, “Honestly, you should have done a better job with keeping track of us.”

He cried as the robot brought him towards the main hall. Seeing that it was the same course from before with X Bon, he began to struggle against her grip. Caleb pushed away from her solid frame with his arms and legs.

She grasped one of his arms with her open hand and grunted, “Calm down, it’ll be over soon.”

As soon as she had finished saying that, an alarm sounded in the office to signal that it was seven, his shift was over.

The robot dropped him, “Well, you win. It was great, for your first night.”

She patted the top of his head rather nonchalantly, “Good luck.”

He swatted away her hand, “Yeah, thanks for the help.”

The taller robot let out a sound that sounded like a sigh before she went through the left doorway and back to her stage. Caleb stood up and brushed himself off before looking at the left entrance rather threateningly.

“This better be the last time this happens,” he huffed before gathering his things. He was going to launch a complaint to the manager.


	2. Ti Gold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb proceeds with caution and meets more robots that come alive later in the week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey this took a while to do but I got it done in time. I originally wanted it to be an entire chapter about Caleb’s second night but it was too short so I continued it to his third night.

“Listen here,” he leaned into the manager’s face, “I didn’t sign up to get dragged away by robots in the middle of the night!”

It was half-past noon and Caleb was in the middle of an argument with the manager with what happened during his shift.

Said manager was sitting calmly in her chair, “Apparently you did, it’s all in the contract that you signed yesterday.”

Caleb shook his head, “No, no I read it over, and there was nothing about trying to defend myself from the robots!”

She nodded, “You’re right, there is nothing about that, but there are reminders that the company is not responsible for damage, theft, lost, sickness, or death of our employees and that a missing person’s report can be filed within sixty days of disappearance.”

Caleb was silent for a moment, “I would like to see the contract I signed yesterday.”

She complied and brought out the employee files before looking for Caleb’s folder, “Here you are.” The piece of paper was handed to him.

He took it up and reread what he had signed yesterday. True enough, what the manager had said what was on the paper was there and a few extras that followed the same lines. There were even the rules to the pizzeria and special rules for the employees to follow. An agreement to the hourly pay, what to look out for during his shift, to not bother the robots or enter any restricted rooms, and…to not talk about what happens at work when outside of his shift?

“Hey, what’s this?” he pointed at the fine print.

“To prevent customers from being scared off or from attracting the wrong crowd.” she typed a few things into her computer. “We didn’t always have that, but it was added in later on due to certain events.”

Caleb was curious as to what these certain events were but he didn’t want to push his luck, instead he kept reading. There was another piece of text that caught his attention, “I’m not allowed to quit unless I’m fired or become ‘missing’?”

“Again,” she looked up at him, “that wasn’t there before, but the company insists that you must follow that rule.”

The short man steamed, “So, you’re telling me that I shouldn’t complain or quit unless I want to get into some big trouble?”

“Exactly.”

Well that sucked.

Once he bid his manager goodbye, Caleb turned to leave. He didn’t make it all the way to the door, for then he found Marisa tapping his shoulder.

“Hey,” she greeted. “I saw you and wanted to know how you’re holding up?”

‘Pretty dandy, I have four robots who are trying t kill me at night while I just sit and flash a light down the hall in front of me.’ “Fine, it was a bit boring, your advice to bring some sort of entertainment was much appreciated.”

The day guard nodded and smiled at him, “But wasn’t it fun to see how the place looked once everyone is gone? I find the building quite large without the swarms of people surfing inside of it.”

“Yeah…hey Marisa?”

“Hm?”

“Do you find the robots odd, during the day?”

She blinked, “Not really, they’re just lifeless hunks of metal that look cute in their frilly outfits. They’re programmed to act the way they do, so nothing should be surprising. Why do you ask?”

“Oh,” he rubbed his arms, uncomfortably. “I just, well…how do I put this? I have a fear of clowns and…”

She patted his shoulder, “I get that the robots can look scary if they’re not moving. That doesn’t mean that you have to look at them though- unless you think someone else is in the building, trying to steal them. I saw you freak out in front of our jack-in-the-box, no wonder.”

Caleb gulped and gave a small smile, “Thanks, I’ll keep your advice in mind.”

“No problem!”

He had lied, for if he were to look away from them then he could instantly get a game over.

So this is where Caleb found himself back at eleven with newfound knowledge at what he should expect to do that night. There were new batteries on the table when he arrived, so that was a relief to him.

He picked up the tablet and flipped around to make sure the robots weren’t out yet. Caleb was met with satisfying results before he switched over to the Prize Corner’s camera to rewind the music box.

The phone rang and Caleb put it on speaker to listen in, “Hello?”

“Hey! Hello?” it was the same woman from last night so Caleb kept quiet. “Congratulations for making through your first nigh! I hope the robots weren’t too much of a problem?”

Caleb let out a dry laugh.

“Just don’t get too comfy, because their A.I.s tend to increase as the week progresses. If you thought that your first night was easy then, well…you get the idea.”

He flipped over to the stage camera to see if Candy Bon and his crew were still there, Caleb arrived just in time to see the said robot leave the stage with his yellow-dressed friend. The guard then looked back at the other stage and saw X Bon and her friend also leave.

“The company got on my butt today that I forgot to tell you a few things…yeah, I’m sorry about that. Anyway, other robots will become more active and- oh yeah, I already talked about that. There was an error from a long time ago where the company’s robots weren’t given a proper night mode and would think that anyone after hours was a naked endoskeleton, as crazy as it sounds it was actually true. Many guards from other locations, especially our main one, were found the next morning in an exoskeleton suit.”

Oh. Oh, this explained why the robots tried to drag him out of the office. This explained so much.

“So, from last night, ignore what I said about the robots coming in to check you out- I-I- they just want to drag you into the Parts and Services room, yeah. They’re directed towards the office anyhow, and- I’ll stop prattling on and tell you other things.

“Did you see Bloody Foxy last night? She’s rare to see out on Monday night, but I know that she likes to make her appearance tonight, usually. You wouldn’t know her since she stays in the Parts and Services room, under the camera, but she was supposed to be with another group of-”

During her speech, Caleb’s eyes had widened as he looked into the Parts and Service’s camera to see a hunched-over form enter the camera’s view and look up at him. It was a robot that was heavily decayed and dented all over. She had dark red hair that flowed out into an ugly rats nest, half of her bangs covered her right eye as cracks crept across her face and neck, exposing her metal endoskeleton underneath. The clothes she wore were a white dress with yellow and grey highlights to imply age and a red leather vest that was torn at the seams. Her facial features were chiseled and her only visible eye was a bright red that was most likely modeled after the balloon-child and red-haired robot’s. Caleb spied her crumbling legs that were nothing more than her endoskeleton legs, her metal feet standing against the tiled floor.

Bloody Foxy blinked and looked at the floor, trying to look away from the camera.

“-robots for birthday parties, I won’t go into f-full-depth with it. She’s pretty twitchy and the mask won’t work on her. Your b-best bet with, eh, her is to, uh- keep flickering the flashlight at her face.”

He flickered the light in the Parts and Services room before checking up on the others that were moving.

“Well, that’s all for tonight. Hopefully you’ve kept the music box wound, because I don’t think, or anyone else, likes that puppet thing. It nearly cost the company a fortune, despite every robot here being made of scraps.”

How the exoskeletons were designed in such a way actually made sense now.

“She scares the guts out of everyone, besides young children- but I don’t trust young children either. Just don’t let her out, okay?”

Caleb didn’t need another warning, for he was already rewinding the box.

“Anyway, just come out of there in one piece and maybe I-I’ll talk to you tomorrow? Yeah, goodnight!”

The message clicked off as Caleb checked for the other robots. Candy Bon was standing in the middle of the left hallway, his partner couldn’t be found but there was noise coming from the kitchen, X Bon was in one of the party rooms, her partner was in the curve of the main hallway, and Bloody Foxy was grabbing for something in the corner of the Parts and Services room.

Caleb watched her pick up a long stick with a sharpened edge that looked a lot like a bunch of endoskeleton parts made into a medieval axe. She then made her way to the door but Caleb decided to flash her with the camera’s light. Bloody Foxy took a few uneasy steps back, stumbling over her metal feet.

He then did this with X Bon and her partner to slow them down before he also did the same with Candy Bon and his partner. Caleb then rewound the music box, feeling a bit uneasy as he felt it rewind itself faster than last night.

The night pushed forward as the time on the clock moved to four in the morning. By then, X Bon had crawled into the office five times, her partner had crawled through the left vent four times, Candy Bon had tried getting into the office six times, his counterpart had been busy hoping around the cameras but had tried getting into the office twice, and Bloody Foxy had actually made appearances in the hall throughout the early morning but had become discouraged by Caleb’s spastic flashing. As Caleb reloaded the flashlight, he silently cursed as he tried to hurriedly defend himself against the incoming robots.

A clambering noise in the left vent made him finish and put the Freddy mask on just in time for the red-haired android to crawl onto the floor and stand up to look at him. It still bothered him, how the robot had removed parts of her face for his shift.

She stared down at him as he looked at the corner of the room, away from her face. The robot in front of him leaned in closely, pressuring him into messing up. She tilted her head before stepping to the left, trying to get a better look at his face. Caleb stayed still.

After another minute, the robot was satisfied that there was no human in the room and sauntered off back down the hall. He quickly checked the cameras before, seeing that it was safe, yanked the mask off. Caleb counted to three before flickering his light down the main hall but nearly dropped it when he saw someone new standing there.

It was the last robot on the stage near the entrance, the one with blue and pink-tipped hair. She was starring right down the hall and at Caleb.

On impulse, he also flashed her, resulting in the large robot to take a careful step back. Caleb swore, this one looked like it took a lot just to make it go away.

He then flipped the Freddy mask back on as he checked the cameras, looking at the progress of the other androids. Candy Bon was still at the door, his partner was supposedly in the kitchen where there was a rattling noise coming from, X Bon was in the area in front of her stage, and her partner was in the left vent. Caleb couldn’t find Bloody Foxy, since she wasn’t in the parts and Services room or out in the hallway.

There was then a scampering noise in the hallway that sounded oddly enough as metal feet running towards him. He picked the flashlight back up and flickered it down the hall just in time to see Bloody Foxy charge him with her axe raised in a position where it could give two swings and decapitate him. She let out an ear-splitting scream just as Caleb began to spastically flash the flashlight in her face.

Bloody Foxy jumped into the office and leaped towards him, “RAH!”

Caleb screamed and flung his flashlight at Bloody Foxy’s face in blind panic.

“Arah?” she tumbled onto the desk in confusion as the flashlight obstructed the vision in her left eye, causing temporary blindness for a second and making her unsure if her leap was great enough to reach her. When the flashlight had toppled onto the floor, Bloody Foxy had taken a few steps back and was looking down at the terrified guard.

She screeched and lifted her axe threateningly at the man before he screamed again and threw the desk fan at her.

“Grr…” annoyed, she tried to take a step forward but Caleb had now thrown the tablet at her. This continued as Caleb began to scream louder and throw more items from the desk, such items included the Freddy Fazbear mask, pink-frosted cupcake with creepy eyeballs, dead batteries, a plastic microphone, until her was then throwing files and papers.

She growled and turned the other cheek, stalking back down the hall, “Fine! If you’re going to act that way…”

“Stay away!” Caleb screamed back at her, his threat falling on deaf ears.

Once Bloody Foxy was a good distance away, he immediately began to pick the more important thrown items back up.

Caleb toggled the flashlight and saw that the larger robot with rosy cheeks was about to come into the office. He yelped and flickered the light spastically into its face before finding the Fazbear head and putting it back on. His methods had worked, for then the robot took another look at him and went back down the hall.

The guard picked the tablet back up and saw that the red-haired robot that was out tonight had left the vent and was out further in the main hallway. X Bon, meanwhile, was busy trying to enter into the office through the right vent so Caleb flashed her a few times to make her go away.

Once everything that mattered to him was collected and settled onto the desk he checked the doors and found the grey-haired robot starring into the office. He quickly shut the right door.

“How’s tonight going?” she asked from behind the thick wall of steel.

Caleb grunted, “Terrible.”

“It’s only the second night; there are three more to go.”

“You’re not helping.”

“Night three is where things usually pick up, so don’t fall behind. Tactics that you used tonight won’t help you tomorrow.”

“Go away.”

“I’ve seen children with uglier attitudes than yours, so don’t try to fall down to their level.”

He turned to face the door with a tired look, “And why do you care?”

There was a pause, “My name’s Deathly Chic, my counterpart’s name is Red Chic. That’s all I’ll tell you for tonight.”

He then heard the sound of heels click against the tiled floor and into the Prize Corner, signaling Deathly Chic’s leave.

Caleb checked the cameras just to make sure she was at a far distance and went to the Prize Corner’s camera- Oh no. The music box was almost out of juice.

Swiftly, he picked the tablet back up and switched to the Prize Corner’s camera; the circle was only a slit full. He jabbed his finger onto the rewind button and watched the circle fill itself up again. On the screen, he could see something slink back into the present box that looked oddly like the puppet-thing’s head. Once the circle was filled back up and the cover of the box had slid back into place, Caleb put the tablet back down to check on the rest of the crew that was out tonight.

He looked down the hallway and saw that ‘Red Chick’ was approaching so he flickered the lights again, making the lean robot halt and stare at him. Deathly Chic was in the area in front of her stage, Candy Bon was in the left hallway, X Bon was just about to enter the right vent, and the large one with rosy cheeks was in the arcade (Caleb had to flash the light to see her). Caleb looked at the screen and stared at the balloon child, did her eyes always look at the camera? The guard gave her another look but he blinked and her eyes were staring ahead of her.

He put the tablet down and checked the time; it was a bit past four thirty. Over than Bloody Foxy starring up into the Parts and Services camera all night (which was making him feel really queasy), Caleb was doing alright. Caleb went back to his usual rounds and didn’t check the clock again until it was a quarter after six in the morning.

Deathly Chic was looking into the camera in the East Hall and Candy Bon was back in the main room while the rest were either in the vents or main hall. Caleb was busy flickering the light, fearful that he was going to run out of batteries soon and he would be left defenseless. He then pushed the right door button to close-off Deathly Chic from getting in. After Caleb heard her walk away he opened the door back up.

Red Chic tumbled out of the left vent and he dawned the Freddy mask again. As Red Chic looked at him, he realized for the first time how his breathing was really loud while wearing the mask. She eyed him for a few seconds longer before leaving with a spring in her step, clearly happy about something.

He was about to take off the mask but X Bon then came tumbling out of the right vent, causing him to keep still as he watched her. She stood up, paid him no mind, and followed Red Chic, “Wait!”

Hearing X Bon’s voice after hours was abnormal since it was so different from her high-pitched voice during operating hours. It wasn’t so high-pitched anymore but sounded a lot like a lost child, tired even.

He watched the two disappear before looking through the cameras to see Candy Bon about to come in through the left door (close the door) and saw that the three colorful robots were back on their stage. Deathly Chic was standing in the East Hall again so he decided to close the door. Caleb was starting to grow worried of how much power the doors were costing him tonight.

Something caught his eye on the camera as Deathly Chic left. There was a poster there that he was sure that hadn’t been there before. Before, there was a poster of the eight-foot tall robot on the main stage waving with a wide smile. Now there was a black poster that overlapped it with a different robot starring out, leaning a bit to close towards the edge.

By the looks of it, it was a she. Her hair was a silky gold color that flowed down her back and had two long strands draped over her front on either side of her head, bangs neatly folded on her forehead. She wore a golden vest with a smoky grey dress suit and a black top hat with a orange-yellow gradient band wrapped around it that read ‘IT’S ME’ in thin, black letters. Her eyes were a soulless black with black wings stretched away from her eyes.

Caleb felt a force shift within the office, his attention being directed away from the screen. The light in the room flickered for a moment before stabilizing; Caleb held the flashlight close, just in case.

Suddenly, the light bulb went out for a moment before coming back on to reveal something slumped over in front of the TV sets on the left. Caleb was amazed to find that it looked exactly like the figure in the poster.

He was right to suggest that she wore a vest, but it was surprising to see it twin-tailed and burnt at the ends just like her hair and hands. She wore black pants with matching dress shoes that seemed to blend into each other like one unit. Her eyes were the same as before but now they each had a tiny white pinprick that were looking at him.

There was a terrible scream from the other end of the hall that came rushing at Caleb just as the mysterious slumped figure began to fade away into nothing. Caleb tucked himself nearly all the way under his office desk in fright as he felt a great force charge down the main hallway and straight for him.

And that’s what it did.

Caleb saw the outline of a tall figure in a dressy outfit and top hat ran down the hall and speed into the office. Once the light of the large room filtered onto the tall figure, Caleb gasped: it was the robot that was just slumped over seconds before.

She was at least seven feet tall and had a smile much like the eight-foot tall robot in the main stage room but much calmer. The robot didn’t have pinpricks in her inky eyes but Caleb thought they almost looked like a pair of endless voids. Despite her endless eyes, Caleb could find minor details on the exoskeleton. He inspected that it looked much older than the others, due to the edges of its removable parts being much more visible. The neck had large gaps near the head and base.

She didn’t walk, to explain why Caleb hadn’t heard her coming. The robot floated an inch above the ground, making a b-line towards Caleb’s desk. He couldn’t put on the mask, not with a supernatural entity in the room staring right at him. Heck, Caleb wasn’t even sure flashing her would work since her eyes were deep dark pits.

She made it to the desk and leaned over, leering at Caleb, “Well, I see that you’ve come across my smiling face in the poster. It’s such a rare occurrence for me to show myself during the early nights.”

The cowering guard made no sound as the towering figure above continued to stare him down, unblinking.

“A shy one, ehh? Back in my day, there were plenty of shy kids asking me to pay attention to them,” she let out a dry chuckle.

“I’m not a child…” he muttered under his breathe.

“Oh?” her smile grew a bit wider. “Mind you speak a little louder, sonny? My hearing isn’t quite the same after a few events.”

“I said that I’m not a child.”

Her eyes squinted down at him, “I know, which makes this so amusing.”

Caleb growled at her, “And why are you here tonight?”

“Ah!” she stood up straight and clasped her hands together. “As the rules imply, I must visit the night guard if they gaze upon my ghost for too long.”

Caleb pushed himself away from the desk, he didn’t like where this conversation was going.

The Freddy mask somehow found its way into the apparition’s hand as she stuffed it onto his small head, “Looks like someone wasn’t quick enough to dodge me!”

There was a sing-song kind of manner in her voice that annoyed Caleb even further than the fact she had forced the bear mask on him. Yet, there was something in Caleb’s instincts that was pressuring him into staying silent and to just let her have her fun before she leaves. He complied and watched within the large eyeholes of the mask.

She then took off the mask, “Anyway, allow me to introduce myself: I used to have a different name way back when, so please call me Ti Gold. I don’t really work here anymore, but I do tend to pop in from time-to-time to at least check up on how everyone is doing.”

Ti Gold set the mask down before looking back at Caleb, “If you think that I’m here to kill you, then you might be right, or you could be wrong. We just may never know.”

“What do you want?” Caleb ignored his instincts and spat at her.

It didn’t seem to faze the paranormal being, “I want you to study tonight, dear Caleb Squaire.”

He nearly fell over backwards in his chair at this, “H-how did you-?”

“I know a great deal of the many things that come in, out, and stay at this building.” Ti Gold’s smile grew into an unnerving one that caused Caleb to see a deep void of blackness behind her artificial teeth. “One of them is your name, age, position, and much more. Although I don’t have a memory drive anymore, I can still grasp a basic understanding of knowledge.”

Caleb nodded, a bit interested in Ti Gold’s tale.

“You,” she pointed at him with a burnt finger, “are in desperate need of some homework.”

He slapped her finger out of his face, “I didn’t come here for school, I came here for-”

“Cash,” Ti Gold rubbed at her wrists. “Just like every unfortunate soul that comes along here, all they need is cash.”

There was an awkward pause before she looked back at him, “It doesn’t matter what job they need, these blokes, as long as they get the money to support whatever they’re doing. I’ve seen the elderly who are desperate for money, the young who are eager for a summer job, mothers and fathers desperate to keep their families going, and those lower than them, come in and barely get out alive.”

Her speech made a shiver go down his spine, thinking of how many people had died trying to make it out of the week just so that they could earn their pay.

“You want to sacrifice your life just to save your grandfather,” Ti Gold slowly picked up the plastic cupcake on the desk and eyed its face. “There have been few like you; I think only one of them made it out well to see daylight again.”

“Will I…”                                

“Pardon?”

Caleb cleared his throat and turned away, “Never mind.”

Ti Gold tilted her head and put the cupcake back down, “You’re asking if you’ll get out alive and well? Are you not?”

Caleb nodded.

“That is information that I do not possess or will not tell.” her grin was now upside-down as if disgusted. “Once you humans gain knowledge of the future you will either do nothing to act upon it or try and change the results. What’s set in stone cannot be erased- only shattered.”

The guard frowned at her, “I was not put on this earth just to feel sorry for myself.”

“Tick tock!” she wagged a finger at him. “Let’s end this conversation right here and get us back on point!”

“But-”

“No buts!” In the other hand, she had a large stack of papers and folders that looked greatly familiar to Caleb. “I have your study guide for tonight!”

Next thing he knew, the stack was thrown at him, “Augh!”

“You get to keep these and learn about the different busybodies here, understand?”

“No,” Caleb tugged a few slips of paper off of him. “I don’t get anything that’s going on here. Why are all of the robots here trying to kill me? Why is this happening during my shift? What even are you?”

Ti Gold leaned towards him ever so slowly, almost to the point where their faces were touching, “You sure are nosy, but I am not under any circumstances to answer your question. Even if I gave your answer, you could still die on the job and my kindness would have been for nothing.”

Caleb gulped, “I didn’t sign up for this.”

“No one ever does unless they read the fine print and proceed with caution.”

He nearly wanted to slap himself.

She straightened her back and continued, “Caleb Squaire, I am not your friend, but neither am I your enemy. If your luck is bad then you’ll expect to see me at least once more through your week, if it is good then you’ll never see me ever again. Keep that in mind.”

The short guard didn’t respond as he stared up at her with a mixture of uncertainty and curiosity.

“Great!” she smiled wide enough for Caleb to see that it was not an endless void in her mouth but just the inside of her head. “There are a few other things that I should tell you, but you’ll pick it up over time.”

Caleb looked through the tablet and found that it had lost signal, “Hey, what-”

He then remembered the music box and switched over to the Prize Corner’s camera to try and rewind the box before it was too late. To his utter shock, the circle was all the way full. “What’s going on-?”

She ignored him, “This, is my last time to help you. Please use this to your advantage, because I doubt we’ll ever meet on this common ground ever again.”

Caleb tilted his head to the side, looking up at her oddly, “But you’re float-”

“And remember!” she blinked and looked down at him. Her eyes suddenly had the white pinpricks in them again and her voice suddenly became very heavy and robotic as she said, “If you gaze upon me for too long, next time, I’ll kill you.”

She backed away from the desk as Caleb flinched, her figure back to ‘normal’, “Well, I’ll see you next time!”

Her form began to disintegrate into the darkness of the hallway as she pointed to the side of her head, “And remember to stay golden, because-” ‘IT’S’ flashed in her right eye as ‘ME’ flashed in her left, “-it’s me!”

“Wait-!”

It was no use, for she was gone.

Caleb then felt a heavy weight lift from the atmosphere in the room as if the conversation with Ti Gold didn’t happen at all. He then picked up the tablet again and found that it was picking up the signal again.

The bell rang, signaling that his shift was over.

Caleb continued to sit in his chair as he began to piece together what Ti Gold had told him. There were parts of her that reminded him of the woman on the phone, since he had also received information from her. He was afraid of Ti Gold, but not incredibly frightened, Caleb’s fear of the puppet-thing was still on the top of the list.

There were many occurrences in life that Caleb hadn’t been prepared for; apparently this job was near the top of the list. The time when it was high school graduation and he had forgotten to wear pants was still at the top of that list.

He tried to sum up what had happened for his last two shifts. Caleb was busy defending himself against seven robots, one of which was wrecked and another could be kept at bay by making sure the music didn’t run out. If the robots were to get more active at night, then that would mean the eight-foot tall one on the main stage would surely come soon or the balloon child were to follow. Maybe the mangled heap in Kid’s Cove would awaken and chase him as well. Then Bloody Foxy had come from an unregistered corner in Parts and Services, to suggest that there was probably another robot or two in there. Geez, how much robots could this place hold?

Caleb went back to thinking about Ti Gold, to even think that that was her name. She was completely unreal, as if she were a spectral entity you would find in a videogame or horror movie. What really unnerved him was the fact that he couldn’t see into her, only darkness. It was as if she were just an empty shell piloted by a mischievous shadow.

Many questions were littered throughout his mind as he tried to pick them up and examine the fine print. Speaking of fine print…

What Ti Gold had given him was currently strewn about all over the floor and desk. He quietly stood up and carefully picked up the slips of paper and folders before placing them back on the desk. Caleb thought that he had another hour or two before he had to get out, so he decided to read.

He first tried to find anything on Ti Gold, but there was absolutely nothing. No matter how hard he shifted through the stack of disorganized papers, there was no robot that bore a resemblance to the lean supernatural figure.

His next search led him to gather information on the puppet-thing, which unnerved him a bit. He found that it was named ‘Madeleine Marionette’ and that it also had a mechanical endoskeleton inside of it. There was a picture of the said endoskeleton; he flipped the picture over so that he couldn’t see it. Apparently her clothes (and a long, black wig to his surprise) had been sewn onto a clothed sock monkey-esk exosuit with eight white lines around her legs, five around her arms, and a fat square on the top of each of her feet, there were even an identical set of buttons trailing down her chest. In his opinion, she was scarier without her clothes. He then found of picture without her mask and stared at it for a few moments before crumpling it up and shoving the photograph into the trash.

Caleb then flipped through the folder labeled ‘Candy Bon’ and found that he was programmed to play the guitar, but he could only look like he was playing the plastic guitar. The same applied to X Bon but she had been labeled with ‘destructive qualities’ and so her guitar-programming had to be taken away at one point. Deathly Chic was supposed to mimic Candy Bon’s behavior but was also to have more movement with her robotic limbs. The same principals applied to Red Chic, upon further examination with the notes, Caleb found that taking off parts of her face were possible.

It was then that Caleb found the balloon girl’s notes and found that wasn’t a plastic doll but a robot with a tiny endoskeleton that was capable of movement. Her name was ‘Demi- Balloon Girl’ as if the creators weren’t all that creative in coming up with a name for her. Apparently, she ran on batteries and was supposedly turned off after hours, though there have been some accounts as to seeing that she hadn’t been turned off for the night.

The rosy-cheeked robot with pink hair was labeled as ‘Ice Bear’ and was named after the fact that they had to use parts of an ice machine to complete her endoskeleton. She was meant to mimic her counterpart, the eight-foot tall android in the other performance room, and was known to barely put up with an effort to move.

Caleb then came upon the last set of notes, labeled as ‘Carta Fazbear’.  It was the eight-foot tall robot with the massive red fair and face that scream ‘I will bite your head off if I hear a peep out of you’. He read through the basic notes and found that her programming was a mess. Apparently, her basic functions had been disrupted due to a neck injury in her endoskeleton and so she had to be kept to her stage or in the Parts and Services room.

What Caleb could not understand, was that at least half of her bio page and programming had been blacked out with thick ink, making it for him impossible to read. Besides the huge, inky black letters at the bottom of the page, which read ‘DO NOT ENGAGE’, he had no clue on what to make with this character.

There were other notes that held pictures on them as well, but the text was also inked-out and Caleb could not look at the picture due to the massive amount of scribbles put onto the figures in the photographs. Caleb wasn’t sure to think if these were done on purpose to cover something up or if this was a prank from Ti Gold.

Another thing he noticed was that these robots were built on nothing but scrap. Most of the clothes were either hand-made or found in thrift stores, to explain the outrageous outfits. Even the endoskeletons had unique features from other machines: Candy Bon had parts from a candy dispenser and Halloween vampire attraction, Carta Fazbear had parts from a high school’s loudspeaker, Demi Balloon Girl had parts made from weapons that were melted down into metal, Red Chic had parts from a walk-in freezer from a butcher’s shop, Ice Bear also had parts from a furnace in one of the designer’s homes, X Bon’s main processor was built from a car, Deathly Chic’s eyes had parts from a multitude of flashlights, and Madeleine Marionette had parts from a child care unit and a French translator.

For a large company with robots and family entertainment, Caleb was surprised to see how all of these odds and ends were glued together yet looked so pristine. He had to compliment his cousin next time on her cosplay.

He finished reading the reports and stuffed them in different parts of the desk, trying to make it look decent again. Though, if the robots were known to drag the night guards out, the company wouldn’t mind to a bit of a mess in the morning. Caleb then got out of his chair and proceeded to pick up the cupcake, desk fan, plastic microphone, and other objects and papers that he had thrown against Bloody Foxy.

Once he was all set, Caleb set out for the front entrance. Passing the arcade area, he could have sworn that he saw Demi Balloon Girls’ eyes looking at him, or it was just a trick of the light. ‘Why did these robots only move during his shift?’ was the question that was repeated over and over again in Caleb’s mind as he made it to the front door. He unlocked the doors before exiting, relocking the doors, and heading towards his car to go home and take a long nap.

During the not-so early hours of the morning, Caleb had a strange dream. He dreamt that he was alone in the darkness and that there was a child crying in the distance.

“Hello?” he called out. “Who’s there?”

The crying continued, growing louder as Caleb walked towards it. It was a small girl, crouched over and hugging her knees.

“Are you okay?”

Upon further examination, she was barely just a shadow with white around the edges. She turned to look at him with white, glowing eyes.

Caleb couldn’t remember what happened next after an hour he woke up.

That night, he wondered why he was still there at the night shift job. Once it was five minutes past eleven the phone rang.

“H-hey! Glad you’re still here! I guess it’s time for you to buckle up because things start getting real tonight.”

For some reason, Caleb was feeling unsure of whether or not the woman on the phone was being completely serious or was afraid for him.

“First, have you ever checked back into the Parts and Services room? You should have by now or else you couldn’t have seen Bloody Foxy in there. Anyway, there are- uh, three more broken down robots that you should be aware of…”

Time seemed to slow down as Caleb grasped what she had just said, “What?”

“The same reasoning as to why they’re broken down applies to Bloody Foxy: no one knows what happened. They were meant to be for children’s birthday parties and able to move between room-to-room, they even had facial registration technology stored into them. The four of them just…turned up on the morning they were to be introduced to a proper audience.”

Caleb quickly checked the halls and wound the music box before switching over to the Parts and Services camera to flash the light in there and see what she was talking about. There, he saw a dark bundle in the corner move, aiming the top half of themselves towards the camera. The more Caleb looked at it, the more Caleb realized that it was not a messy bundle but an actual torn-up robot that was sitting down in an awkward position. He then looked around the room and found a broken robot with a large mouth on the edge of the camera screen and another broken robot that was lying on the floor and half into the camera’s view.

“Whatever h-happened to them, erhm…it wasn’t human.”

It was then that the darker robot stood up and began to move towards the door. Caleb saw that it barely looked like an android at all, compared to the other models. It was short, black, and really…square; it’s basic build was rectangular prisms for limbs and a cube-shaped head. The robot had tangled red hair and a green streak that went horizontally across it, to suggest that it was a headband. There was a tattered coat that was around its shoulders and was tied into a knot on one end to show a lack of a left arm, it’s other arm was torn at the end and showed a mechanical, three-fingered hand. Under the coat, the robot wore a stained yellow shirt with two black buttons sewn into it and a red bowtie that was also stained. It wore a khaki skirt that was torn at the end. Many tears desecrated its body and revealed parts of a rusted endoskeleton underneath.

What gave Caleb the heebie-bageebies was that fact that it had no face, exoskeleton and endoskeleton-wise. All he could see were two rows of bottom teeth, the back of the endoskeleton’s head and…two glowing red eyes that looked connected to the endoskeleton. Wires hung down and around it’s facial cavity, even exiting from different tears in its body.

“Just keep an eye on them, okay? T-they are known to start moving tonight and to copy the others in behavior, so don’t- don’t let them into your office.  One of them is slower than the rest but I wouldn’t risk it, you know? The company uses them as resources and for reference with the other robots that perform every day.”

The black robot edged itself out of the door and into the main hallway. Caleb switched to the camera in the hallway to see it standing with its right arm out for balance, adjusting itself.

“Besides them, there’s also the threat of…her. I’m talking about the really large one on the stage to the left, the Carta Fazbear. She gets really…rowdy in the dark. Flashing the light on her doesn’t work, so you have to c-catch her in, uh, time before she runs to the right door. I don’t know how she does it-”

Caleb switched to the camera feed to the left stage and found the mentioned Carta Fazbear had her head turned in the camera’s direction. The stare gave him the creeps.

“-but she’s so silent when she runs. I don’t trust her. You shouldn’t trust her either, because, I have a feeling that she’s the top dog in the building. Just don’t let her into the of-office after hours, you hear? She’s your top priority. Geez, the things you hear at that place…one of the rumors is that she bit a guy’s head off…”

Caleb nearly dropped the tablet at hearing this. What?”

“I’ll stop rambling for now, because I don’t want to take up much of your time, yeah. Just remember, you have at least three more moving tonight so, just, don’t get taken away. Good night!”

There was a click and the message was over.

Caleb flickered the flashlight down the hall and found Bloody Foxy approaching, he gave the broken robot a few more bouts of light before returning to the tablet’s screen. Candy Bon and Deathly Chic had advanced to where they were almost near the doors while X Bon and Red Chica were in the party rooms and were about to enter the vents. Ice Bear was hiding in the arcade and the music box was faster again tonight.

He rewound the box and watched the cameras to try and find the broken robots. The faceless one was staring at the door to the kitchen but wasn’t going in. He flipped back to the Parts and Services camera and saw the tall robot in the left corner move out of the shadows and into the light.

She was incredibly tall and had massive blue hair that went down to her shoulders, possibly had yellow highlights on the ends. Her lower jaw was stretched beyond its confines and was hanging down by three wires on each side. She wore a yellow dress that looked like a combination of Red Chic and Deathly Chic’s; it had flowing sleeves and a skirt that went a little past the knees with white frills at the end of it. There was a bib tied around her neck with the trademark ‘LET’S EAT’ from Deathly Chic’s bib but had oil stains on it. Her feet had orange heels bolted onto them. Where her hands were supposed to be was only a tangle of wires that dripped out of her tattered arms.

She slowly walked across the room and exited through the thick door, leaving only the broken robot that was lying on the floor.

Caleb went back to work with flashing the flashlight down the hallway and checking the doors and vents before switching back towards the tablet. Surprisingly, both Red Chic and X Bon had backed away from the vents and were staying in different parts of the main hall. Candy Bon was about to enter but Caleb had successfully closed the door on him. Ice Bear was coming down the hall with the faceless robot in front of her, so he flickered the flashlight a bunch more times to drive them off.

Deathly Chic was making noise in the kitchen while Caleb rewound the music box. He thought that it was time to speed things up tonight.

Once he put the tablet down and picked the flashlight back up to flicker down the hall, Caleb was surprised to see how far the faceless robot had traveled. He delivered an extra douse of flickering and was satisfied to see it take a wobbly step back. The guard then put the Freddy mask on and stayed still as he listened to the different robots roaming the building for about thirty seconds before he thought that it was time to take it off.

Caleb was then interrupted as he heard a large thumping noise coming from the right vent. He kept it on and slightly turned his head to see the tall, broken robot with no hands crawl out of the vent and shakily stand up. Caleb blanched; how was she supposed to fit in such a tiny vent?

She stood all the way up and looked in Caleb’s direction before making her way over with careful steps, her arms outstretched to either side for balance. Caleb felt himself slowly press himself into the wooden chair as he felt her unblinking eyes on him.

He begun to worry about the music box as she tried to pick up the cupcake on the desk but failed because of the fact she had no hands. Once she was fed up, the broken robot gave off a sound that sounded like a rusty pipe letting out hot air and left. Caleb waited three seconds before getting the tablet and rewinding the music box.

He then checked the time and found that it was only midnight; he had seven more hours to go. Caleb groaned as he felt like slamming his against the desk, this however was cut short when he heard Deathly Chic approaching the east door. He punched the door button and sealed Deathly Chic away.

Then there was a noise in the hallway and Caleb flashed the light again to stop Bloody Foxy from running into the office. He got her to stumble back and retreat but that only revealed Ice Bear to come marching down the hallway at a slow pace. Caleb quickly put the mask back on and acted like a piece of furniture.

And so the cycle continued for the next three hours as to where Caleb had to block Deathly Chic five more times, Candy Bon three times, Ice Bear two times, Red Chic four times, X Bon six times, the faceless robot two times, the broken jaw robot three times, and Bloody Foxy five times. He had checked in on Carta Fazbear a few times but she was hard to find due to the fact that she hid so well in the darkness, only the LED lights in her eyes illuminating her location.

Caleb had chills every time he found Carta hiding. She was the largest, most warned about, and predatorily robot he had encountered yet.

It was now three-thirty and Caleb was starting to feel incredibly tired. His job didn’t start out like this, but now- as the week went on -he was starting to see what kind of toll his job was putting on him. All Caleb Squaire wanted to do right now was head back to his bed and fall asleep until noon.

Thirty minutes later, Caleb found himself almost falling onto the table in exhaustion. If it weren’t for the sound of Candy Bon trying to get in then Caleb wouldn’t have slammed his hand on the left door button.

“Ohh…” he moaned. “Why?”

“You’re tired?” the now-trapped robot said. “That’s not surprising.”

“Leave me alone,” Caleb tried to rewind the music box.

“But it’s my job to not do so.”

Caleb hissed, “I don’t care what you do here, I am only concerned as to why must it have to be me?”

Candy Bon was silent for a few moments before asking, “Why are you questioning me when you could try and survive the nights?”

The guard grumbled when he found that the robot was right and that he had to check the cameras again to make sure that none of the other robots were coming in any time soon.

Ice Bear was still hiding in the arcade, hanging by Demi Balloon Girl, so he didn’t need to pay any more attention there. The broken robot without any hands was in one of the party rooms with her arms spread out for balance once again. Red Chic and X Bon were at the area in front of their stage, their mouths were moving as if they were talking to one another. Deathly Chic was back in the kitchen, making more noise. Carta Fazbear was hiding so well that Caleb couldn’t find her.

He flickered the light down the hall and found Bloody Foxy behind the faceless robot as the two approached him. Bloody Foxy squinted against the light and fully stopped, her grip on her axe slacking. The faceless one stopped for a moment before continuing down the hall.

Caleb flickered the light harder into its facial cavity, trying to slow it down. The robot continued its assault until it was only five yards away from the desk.

As a last resort, Caleb put the Freddy mask over his head and stayed perfectly still, awaiting the arrival of the chilling robot.

It entered the office and walked slowly over to the desk, scanning its contents. Their eyes then fell over Caleb’s figure and they stopped in front of the desk.

There was a painful period of silence as the robot stood over Caleb, their glowing red eyes trying to scan him. His paranoia was so great that he wasn’t moving a single inch; instead he was sweating buckets as he prayed to whatever spiritual entity above him to make sure that he would come out of this experience unscathed.

“Face…”

Caleb nearly jumped when he heard a creaking noise coming from the broken robot; he angled his head ever so slightly to see the robot lean its head down to look at Caleb’s covered head.

“I saw…face…”

It lifted its remaining arm and put its metal hand over its facial cavity, stroking an invisible face.

“I…have no…face…”

The hand curled into a fist as the eyes seemingly glowed brighter than before.

“She…took it away…from me…”

The hand uncurled itself and began to descend upon Caleb’s mask.

“I…want…”

It gripped the top of Caleb’s mask, the guard let out a squeak of fright.

“…want…”

The mask slowly came off and Caleb felt himself shivering in fright.

“…want…”

It dropped the mask onto the desk and continued to stare at Caleb before the hand came back to Caleb’s face.

“…yours!”

As Caleb felt himself being picked up by his own face, he screamed. The robot only made a screeching noise in response as he was dragged over his desk (knocking off many of the do-dads that sat upon it).

“Let me go!” he cried.

It didn’t respond as it moved its stumpy legs out of the room and into the dark hall. Bloody Foxy jogged up to them with a wide eye.

“You got ’im?” she looked between the two. Caleb eyed the sharp axe in fright as he screamed louder.

“I…” the faceless robot bowed its head to look at the floor.

Bloody Foxy didn’t say anything as she gave it a look of sympathy and patted its shoulder, “There, there, Perry…let’s just get this over with.”

It nodded as Bloody Foxy moved out of the way for it to walk towards the Parts and Services door. Caleb only screamed louder.

“Now now…” a voice drifted out of the darkness and made the faceless robot stop abruptly in its tracks, it even made Caleb’s hair stand on end.

There was the noise of thick metallic heels on tiles approaching before a large figure approached, “It looks like you’ve captured the night guard for the week, good job.”

Caleb saw that it was Carta Fazbear with her painful smile, arms folded behind her back, “He’s nothing special, like the lot. Thinks he can come in and ruin the company’s good name.”

Carta Fazbear leaned in to look at Caleb, eyeing him with wide, unblinking eyes. She let out a noise that sounded much like a mechanical grunt before saying, “You’re not getting out alive tonight, son.”


	3. The Great Escape(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb absconds from Carta Fazbear and proceeds with his job’s agenda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait but this is the chapter that I’ve been rooting for and it’s MM’s first ‘official’ appearance at night. There’s a new character at the end who will only appear one more time throughout the story.

 The next few minutes were a blur to Caleb.

 It all started when Carta Fazbear guided the faceless robot that was holding Caleb into the Parts and Services room. Carta had pointed to a large maintenance table that was in the corner of the room, “It’s time to teach him a lesson.”

 There was a pause before the broken robot walked over to the table and slowly set Caleb down, firmly. He looked at the glowing eyes hidden in its facial cavity, dimming with a sort of emotion that Caleb could not read.

 “Let me go!” he yelled.

 Carta tsked and cocked her head, “You sure are feisty, child-harmer.”

 Those words made Caleb look at her, “What?”

 She didn’t listen; instead she turned her cheek and looked at the other broken robot that was still on the floor. That said robot was clicking something unintelligible as its left eye trailed Carta’s movements. Caleb couldn’t see it fully at the angle he was at but he could tell that it had red-brown color palette.

 “Hello, Angel.” Carta nodded to the broken robot on the floor.

 “…” it remained unresponsive as Carta moved in front of a dusty blue tarp that covered something that only went up to half her height.

 Carta Fazbear then moved beside the tarp and looked between the faceless robot and Caleb, “Well, I believe it’s time to add him to the list. Let’s get this over with.”

 “I didn’t do anythi-” Caleb cried before the robot holding him leaned their head in closer to his face. They gave Caleb a gleaming look with their red eyes that ushered him to be quiet.

 It then gave him a push that made him lie on the table as it then proceeded to take out a large…purple rabbit head?

 The robot looked at the strange head’s face for a moment, lost in thought.

 Carta gave out a clicking noise, “Perry!”

 “Face…” it made the head come closer to its facial cavity. “I like…this face…”

 “You can put it on later, for we have a larger job first.”

 ‘Perry’ looked between the rabbit head and Caleb as if deciding if the head would look better on it or the small guard.

 At this point, Caleb was done with this episode and wanted to get out. He bolted off of the table and towards the door.

 Carta let out a cry and lunged for Caleb, trying to grab him by his jacket, “Get back here!”

 “No thanks!” he ran out the door after Carta tried to grab him by the scruff of his jacket, she missed by around a few centimeters.

 Once in the main hall again, he saw his way blocked by Ice Bear who stood over him with her arms over her head and ready to nab him. He turned to the left and decided that he could try and escape through the front entrance.

 Caleb burst into the stage area and was met with a faceless Red Chic near the center of the tables. The lean robot took one look at him before she calmly begun to walk around the rectangular tables and make her way towards the guard.

 On second thought, Caleb decided that his best chances of survival were that he was to return to his position in the security office. From there, he could gather up what he had to defend himself with and see if the robots were still determined to stuff him before he could leave.

 He turned towards the right and bolted towards the arcade, hopefully Deathly Chic wasn’t in there. Caleb ducked into the room and almost ran into one of the ping-pong ball machine in the darkness before he dodged it and kept running.

 “Hello!”

 “Ack!” Caleb shrieked as he ran past Demi Balloon Girl. He forgot about her motion-sensor technology. The guard quickly ducked around her and towards the Prize Corner as he heard something clicking against the tiles.

 Once entering the Prize Corner, Caleb was nearly taken aback by the soft melody playing my a slow-playing music box that was playing on the counter. He shuffled around the giant present box and made his way towards the open door that led towards the security office, hoping that he had remembered to open the door.

 Just as he was about to slip into the doorway, the music began to slow to a stop.

 Caleb heard a whirring noise coming from the box and quickly turned to look at the dividing slides on the top of the box as the cables that dripped into it jingled slightly. The next thing he knew, when the slides began to arch, Caleb felt something zoom up and grab his jacket.

 He shrieked and tried to pull away but the dark three-fingered hand had a grip of steel.

 “Heh…” something within the box let out a sound that was almost like a sigh. “I got you.”

 As the box continued to slowly open, Caleb found that the hand was clawed and had white stripes; there was even a black ring around its wrist that was attached to a long cable. He shrieked again before tugging himself free.

 Another shriek made him look up and see Red Chic making her way towards him. Caleb dived into the room behind the Prize Corner and ran back into the security office.

 Thankfully, the door was open and he was able to grab his flashlight off the desk before pointing it at the pursuing robot. He flickered it in her direction, making her shriek in surprise before she took a few steps back. Seeing his chance, Caleb then grabbed the tablet and switched to the Prize Corner’s feed to look at the monochromatic robot just about to leave her box. He slammed his hand down onto the rewind button and made the box shut her back up, Caleb’s hair stood on end as he heard the demonic screeching coming from the right doorway.

 Red Chic began to advance again but Caleb was shining the light right back at her face, only inches away from her exposed endoskeleton.

 She got the message and ran out into the main hallway.

 He watched her go before seeing Carta Fazbear approach, “Get back here-”

 Caleb flashed her like she was a giant bear, ready to blind her and then run away like a coward. She screeched and reeled back as the blinding light hit her face, making her eyes blink rapidly as she struggled to see straight. He continued to flash, seeing that it worked effectively against her.

 “Stop that-!” she tried to reach out and grab the small guard but she missed terribly and clawed the wall.

 Caleb glimpsed at her large hands scrapping the paint off of the walls and gulped, hoping that his face wouldn’t meet the same fate.

 Carta hissed once more before closing her eyes and walking backwards, “Enough!”

 “Back off!” Caleb threatened as he continued to flash at her spastically.

 Carta screamed, “Never!”

 A tall figure appeared in the left doorway and peered into the office, it was Candy Bon. Caleb didn’t see Candy Bon as he continued to stare into the room, looking between him and Carta. Candy had a neutral look on his face as he began to slowly exit through the doorway and back into the employee hall.

 Just as Candy Bon had reentered the west wing of the building, Carta had been backed into the main hallway. She couldn’t see clearly by now and her processor was having trouble pinpointing her location in the building.

 “Stop that!” Carta finally gave up fighting before she smacked the flashlight out of Caleb’s hand and sent it flying. The large robot turned on her heel and ran down the hall, running into a wall by accident.

 Caleb dove to the floor, searching for the flashlight. He didn’t care that Carta was gone but he did worry about a set of medium-sized footsteps coming his way.

 The guard found the flashlight at the base of his desk and picked it up to flicker it back down the hallway. He flicked the switch and found no light. Caleb flicked it again and there was still no light.

 “Hello…” Caleb recognized that voice, it was Ice Bear.

 Beginning to panic, Caleb scrambled back up and ran before the desk to search for his spare set of batteries so that he may change them out with the dead ones. He shuffled around certain papers and pencils on the desk before coming across the two small ‘Freddy Fun Batteries’ that were lying right in front of the desk fan. Quickly, he struggled to peel off the cover for housing the batteries within the flashlight with his fingernails. It took a few tries before he could peel off one end and rip the dead batteries out to replace them.

 “Come on! Come on!” Caleb gritted his teeth as he tried to remember which end was positive and negative.

 “Say hi to me…” Ice Bear was about to pop her head through the doorway and come into the security office.

 Caleb snapped in the newer batteries and shut the panel with a slight cheer before he flashed the light at Ice Bear. The large robot blinked a few times as she then starred at the flashlight, mesmerized.

 Caleb moved it left and right and Ice Bear followed. He flickered it and she took frantic steps back.

 In Ice Bear’s confusion, Caleb flipped the mask on and quickly sat back down in his wooden chair. The robot looked back into the office, took a few tentative steps forward, and then turned away and went back into its stage room.

 Caleb then picked up the tablet and flipped back to the Prize Corner to rewind the music box before he flipped around to see where the other robots were. Candy was hanging out in the area in front of his stage, there was sound coming from the kitchen but Deathly was in the employee hallway. Red Chic was in the main hallway, X Bon was about to crawl through the right vent, and Ice Bear was in the arcade again. The faceless robot was crawling in the left vent, displaying a creepy picture of its facial cavity towards the camera much to Caleb’s horror. Caleb had to flicker the light in one of the party rooms to see the robot without any hands standing near the wall with paper plate puppets hanging off of it.

 Once the robot named ‘Perry’ was heard climbing out of the vent, Caleb put the tablet down and sat quietly. It gave him a confusing look for a moment before it shook its head and sauntered out into the main hall.

 He carefully took off the mask and looked back through the tablet, continuing his routine.

 It wasn’t until he had five minutes left on the clock before his shift was to end.

 There was a whirring noise from within the building that startled Caleb as the lights flickered. The left door, which was closed at the time, opened on its own as Caleb shrieked in fright. Soon the lights went out altogether and left Caleb in the darkness, even the desk fan died out.

 All noise died and Caleb could hear a dull ring in his ears as he sat in the darkness, only his tablet and flashlight providing some source of light. He sat as still as a statue as he tried to take in what was happening.

 ‘You’re also running on an extra generator that’s used for after-hours.’ the woman on the phone’s voice echoed in his head. ‘Uh…in other words, you’re on minimal power that will run-out if you keep on pressing those buttons and, uhm, yeah that stuff.’

 Caleb internally cursed as he just remembered that important tidbit of information that she had given him. He was left defenseless now as he clutched his dying flashlight in one hand.

 Then the most peculiar thing happened, Caleb heard music coming from somewhere in the building. It sounded like music he had once heard at a carnival when he was in middle school once.

 The music grew louder and a light blue light appeared down the hall, slowly coming towards him.

 “So your night has finally ended…” a haunting melody came from the light as it continued its journey. “What a terrible mistake you have made…”

 It almost sounded familiar to Caleb…too familiar.

 “So you are a part of our family now; how does it feel to end up here?”

 As the light approached more and more the guard could see that it was coming from the inside of a large mouth, flickering in time to the words of the song.

 “You’ve outdone yourself, let’s give you a pat on the back and take you in with open arms…”

 There were two more lights glowing above the larger one and had black dots at the center of each of them. They almost resembled a pair of eyes.

 “Don’t worry, everything will be fine now.”

 The three lights entered the office and Caleb screamed as he realized that Carta Fazbear was approaching the desk, her eyes and mouth illuminated. She leaned over him with the same crooked look on her face as she finished singing.

 “You will never do bad again.”

 Before he knew it, the lights in her head flashed out and everything was dark again.

 Caleb heard the sound of her large footsteps coming closer and closer and he let out a scream in panic, latching on to whatever hope he had left. He could flicker the flashlight in her face, but that had a high chance of not working. It was almost seven. Almost seven!

 The small guard felt a large force swing upwards, above his head, before it began a descent towards his head.

 Ding-dong-dong-ding.

 The lights flickered back on and Caleb could see the large form of Carta Fazbear looming over him, her hand arched in a claw-like fashion just an inch away from his face.

 Ding-dong-dong-ding.

 Yay!

 Caleb didn’t move as he watched Carta straighten her posture and remove her arm away from his face and to her side. She didn’t say a word as she slowly walked back down the main hall and took a left back towards her stage. Once she was gone from sight, Caleb collapsed into his chair.

 He made it! If she had arrived a few seconds earlier then he would have been a goner!

 Caleb could feel sweat streaming down his face and dripping off of his chin. His encounter with the ringleader was close- too close.

 ‘She gets really…rowdy in the dark. Flashing the light on her doesn’t work…’ more of the tips that the woman on the phone had given her began to spam his thoughts.

 If Carta’s hand was just about to clobber his face then that would mean that she meant more than to drag him to Parts and Services when the lights were on. She was capable of killing when Caleb was left in the dark, all defenseless. Yet, when he had flashed the light at Carta earlier, she had reacted and lashed out at Caleb. So she wasn’t invincible against the spastic flashing strategy and couldn’t stand it for long periods of time.

 Yikes, Caleb was starting to realize that he was up against a powerful foe that was bent on destroying him if she had the chance. First it was the dumb phobia of clowns, then the sudden appearance of Ti Gold, and now the confrontation of Carta Fazbear. Caleb was beginning to lose his sanity with this job.

 If he could just make it through the week then he could ask to be moved to the day shift, just maybe. The guard knew that if he got through the week then he’d be able to climb the ranks a bit and get a safer position.

 Newer thoughts climbed into his head. Did Derek have the job previously? Were there other guards out there who had survived? Why was this job even offered?

 His new objection, he decided while gathering his things, was to ask Derek at his lunch break how he got through his week. There had to be a way for him to get through just two more days of this mess. With twelve robots in the building, how could anything bad surprise him now?

 Around one, Caleb was back at the pizzeria and found Derek exiting the building for his lunch break.

 “Hey!” Caleb ran over to him, trying to look at normal as possible.

 Derek turned in his direction and stood outside of the doors to wait for him, a neutral expression painted on his face.

 Caleb was able to get to him. Panting slightly, he asked, “Hey, uh, Derek…I need to ask you something.”

 The day guard stared at him while Caleb continued, “It’s about my night shift, have you ever had the job? For the week?”

 Derek continued to give him the look before he leaned over Caleb and put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a knowing smile. He then pointed at Caleb in a friendly manner before he patted his shoulder and walked away.

 Caleb stared at Derek as the day guard walked towards the bus stop, a bit disturbed at what had just happened, “What…?”

 He then decided not to rely on either of the day guards for advice on the robots.

 Caleb reentered for his fourth night at the pizzeria, ready and alert for whatever evil may come and try to rip his face off. The small guard was starting to think that nothing else could join the nightly routines.

 A minute into the shift, the phone rang. Following his usual routine, he put the landline on speaker and began to watch the cameras.

 “Hey! Hey! You made it! I hope Carta and the broken bots didn‘t give you such a scare, they tend to make you pick up the pace, huh?”

 “No duh,” the words rolled off of Caleb’s tongue in a disgusting manner.

 There was a tiny pause before the message continued, “I know that there shouldn’t be any more surprises, heh, I wish that too…”

 “No.” Caleb warned as he flipped through the cameras and watched Candy Bon move to the area in front of his stage.

 “Tonight, for sure, the balloon kid is going to be moving. She’ll t-try and get into the office. You don’t want her in the same room as you. T-that kid will, uh, steal your flashlight and batteries and makes noise to attract the other robots to you. If she gets in, you’re toast.”

 Caleb briefly switched to the Arcade and looked at Demi Balloon Girl; she was starring away from the camera.

 “There’s another one, or two, or many, okay. Have you seen the misshapen heap in Kid’s Cove? She’s a take-apart-and-put-back-together attraction for the kids and used to actually be two different robots before the, erhm, children started getting…grabby.”

 He switched to the Kid’s Cove camera and saw the metallic heap in the corner twitch its white haired head in the camera’s direction.

 “They have a different strategy of moving, as to they- uh, let’s say that they just like to crawl on the ceiling. So keep your head up, yeah. They’ll dangle around in your camera’s view.”

 It began to move one of the limbs that resembled an arm and tugged at a bar that was keeping it in place against the wall.

 “She’ll also be a bit twitchy, due to the kids grabbing parts of her ‘brains’ you know. Just flashing the light and wearing the mask will work.”

 The robot unhooked itself from the wall before the camera went offline for a few moments and viewed dark static across the screen. When Caleb could see the camera feed again, he saw a long metal limb climb up towards the ceiling and away from the camera’s view.

 “Other than those two, just keep doing what you’ve been doing f-for the last three nights. Good thing that you’re almost done with your week, woo-hoo! Yeah…I’ll stop talking now. Have a good night!”

 The phone clicked off and Caleb was left to defend for himself once again.

 Faint footsteps in the hallway alerted him to shine the light, illuminating the usual faceless Red Chic. He continued to flicker the light down the hall as he saw something creep around the ceiling and pause. Caleb saw a white haired head peek down and look at him and open its mouth, he flickered the light even more before he put the Freddy mask on.

 He flung himself back into the routine as he observed the tangled robot move from the Prize Corner, different parts of the main hallway, and the arcade. At one point he decided to check up on Demi Balloon Girl but saw that she was in her spot.

 Once it had hit midnight, Caleb was sure that he had seen five different robots enter his room and exit, all without catching him off guard. By now almost all of the robots were out and Caleb was positively sure that he was going to faint from stress before his shift was over. The only ones that he had not seen yet were the robot who was still lying on the floor in Parts and Services, Ti Gold, Madeleine Marionette, and Demi Balloon Girl. He rewound the music box again, trying to pick up the pace with the new speed it had been set to for the night.

 At one in the morning he had successfully blocked both Deathly Chic and Candy Bon from coming in and was busy trying to get X Bon out of the office by wearing the mask again. X Bon opened her mouth in protest before leaving, prompting for Caleb to get back to watching the cameras. He found Carta Fazbear hiding in the employee hallway again, not moving but starring into Caleb’s soul as always.

 The small guard went to the Parts and Services room and found something quite eerie: the broken robot on the floor was gone. He put the tablet down the flashed the hallway only to find Bloody Foxy far away. Caleb gave her a bit more light before switching back to the camera.

 He switched to the main hall’s camera and finally found it. The final broken robot was standing with its back to the kitchen door and its head turned to face the camera. Caleb flinched once he saw it in the light and thought that it looked nearly the creepiest out of all the robots that thrived in the Parts and Services room (the first on the list was the faceless one).

 It was boyish, but had feminine features to it. The root wore an outfit almost exactly like Carta Fazbear’s but it wore dark brown pants and white dress shoes with red stripes. Nearly their entire outfit was ripped at the seams, mostly their right side, and smudged nearly everywhere on the front side. Its hair was long and a rusty red while their eyes were the same color but with a lighter gradient near their pupils. The right side of its face was slouched and looked like it couldn’t move; even the right eye gazed lazily at the tiled floor. Their right arm and leg was dangling by its side, their right leg only keeping itself balanced by pressing its crooked foot onto the floor.

 Caleb looked at it through the camera and saw that its left eye was looking into the camera’s view. Great, now there were fourteen robots out for his hide.

 He rewound the music box and unlocked the doors before continuing his usual rounds.

 At two in the morning was when Caleb couldn’t find Demi Balloon Girl in the Arcade. He had come back into the camera to check and see Ice Bear was hiding in the darkness but found that the balloon child was not in her usual spot.

 “Hello.”

 He swiftly looked down the hallway to try and follow the faint sound that he had heard on the other side of the building, it sounded a lot like a familiar child-sized robot. Caleb flickered the light down the hall and was able to stop Bloody Foxy from doing another run and the faceless robot from getting any closer.

 He went back to the camera and found that either Deathly Chic or Carta Fazbear was making noise in the kitchen, probably both. Caleb searched for the others and fund that they were making no move for the vents of doors, yet. The mangled robot with two heads was in the Prize Corner, dangling over the huge present box; Caleb rewound the music box again while he was there. Then he found the half-faced robot in one of the party rooms, starring right into the camera. It gave him a bit of a fright to see it look at him with its one working eye.

 Nearly thirty minutes later he heard another call, “Hello.”

 Caleb checked the cameras but couldn’t find Demi Balloon Girl anywhere. He clutched his flashlight, the lifeline of his nightly shift.

 The night watcher quickly put on the Freddy mask to hide from the incoming Red Chic that was about to climb out of the left vent.

 At nearly three in the morning, he heard it again, “Hello.”

 He checked the halls and vents again but found no balloon child anywhere. When he did flash down the main hallway, he found something a bit creepier.

 The half-faced robot was slowly waltzing towards the security office, dragging its right foot into keeping it balanced while it walked. It’s frame was larger than it had appeared on camera, probably to make itself look bigger to intimidate Caleb. The one working eye was staring at Caleb.

 He gave the broken robot a douse of spastic flashing as he tried to drive it off before he put the Freddy mask on to confuse it. His strategy didn’t work as he soon found the said broken robot leaning into the security office and heading towards his desk. Caleb winced as he thought back to last night with the faceless robot and how it dragged him out of the office to meet Carta Fazbear.

 The broken robot continued walking to his desk before it stopped in front of the desk fan and leaned over to look at him. Caleb continued to stay still as its left eye starred at him before it turned its gaze towards the whirring desk fan.

 It slowly poked it with its left hand and blinked before turning away and walking back down the long hallway.

 Once it had ducked back into the main hall, Caleb swiftly took off his mask and checked the cameras. Candy Bon was about to approach the left door so he quickly pushed the button to seal him out.

 It was four o’clock in the morning when Caleb heard it again.

 “Hello.”

 Feeling like he’d just had about enough of this, he flipped through the cameras to look for her. He flipped from Kid’s Cove to the Kitchen then to Parts and Services and then-

 Caleb Squaire spotted something in the Parts and Services room as he flipped to a party room, he flipped back to the room to see what it was. Surprisingly, it wasn’t there anymore. He stared at the screen as he tried to remember what it looked like; it was in the same position the faceless robot was in before it had started moving for the night, very dark, and had white spots for eyes and triangular teeth. If he was not mistaken, there was also a white triangle on its forehead.

 He put it to the back of his mind as he continued to do his rounds.

 Nothing really happened besides more robots trying to see if they could get Caleb to slip-up and drag him back to Parts and Services. For the rest of the night, Caleb didn’t have any trouble with the robots. The tangled robot had crawled into his office only once and dangled off the ceiling before it crawled into the main hallway and slid into the darkness. He was on his second set of batteries for the night and yet there was no sign of Demi Balloon Girl.

 There were only ten minutes left on the clock and Caleb was ready to get out of the pizzeria so that he could sleep at home.

 “Hello.”

 He looked back at the cameras and still couldn’t find her. It was only natural that he was able to finally spot her in the left vent.

 In surprise, he squeaked at how close she was to the camera and flashed the light on her to make sure she would go away. He then remembered that the music box was nearly out of juice, which prompted him to check the Prize Corner’s camera to wind it back up.

 “Hi!”

 The sound was too close; he looked up from his tablet and panicked once he saw Demi Balloon Girl lurking in front of the disabled television sets on the left side of the room. He rapidly put the Freddy mask on to fool her.

 “Hello?” Demi Balloon Girl shifted to the side as she stared up at the night guard who was angrily trying to wait for her to leave so that he could make sure that the puppet-thing wouldn’t escape.

 “Ah ha ha ha!” it laughed and walked towards him with its sign and balloon in hand.

 “Hi!” it arched its back and angled their eyes into a fierce gaze, their jaws coming together to form a wicked grin that sent shivers down his spine.

 On the tablet, unnoticed by him, there was a yellow flashing light right next to the room for the Prize Corner. Meanwhile, at the Prize Corner, the large gift box begun to slowly open.

 “Ah ha ha ha!” Demi Balloon Girl hopped from side to side in glee, making Caleb twitch in annoyance.

 The tablet was now spastically flashing a red light and a dark-haired being was climbing out of the giant present box, unclasping the chains bound around their wrists and ankles.

 “Hi!” she began to move towards the main hallway, slowly backing into the darkness.

 Once she was out of sight, Caleb threw the Freddy mask off of his face and jammed his finger onto the rewind button, but the familiar music box tune did not play and instead another familiar tune played. As the tune ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ played, Caleb flashed the light on the room and was horrified to find the box wide open with its five cables dangling above it.

 There was a faster version of ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ coming from the main hall, fast approaching the security office. He clutched the tablet for dear life as he bit his bottom lip, dreading for whatever force was coming his way.

 Caleb then saw it: Madeleine Marionette running into the office’s doorway and leaping towards him, emitting a terrible sound that sounded all too much like a scream.

 “ARAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” she screamed into his face as different lights lit up behind her mask. Behind the ovular eyeholes, there was each a circular white ring that glowed in the darkness of the mask. Inside of the curved mouth, there was a row of triangular teeth that were the same color and also glowed like the rings in her eyes.

 Caleb, in fright, fell to the floor as the robot sailed over his head and crashed into the wall behind the desk. There was a mechanical grunt of pain behind him before he leapt back up and ran out through the main hall, instinct filling his body and making him run as far away as he could from the monochromatic robot.

 He screamed as he ran, hearing soft footsteps behind him, following him down the hall.

 “Aha~ You can’t escape~” she sang during the chase. Caleb could have sworn that her voice was next to his ear, it didn’t help that her voice now resembled a hypnotic ghost.

 He cried out in alarm as he suddenly ran into something tall and heavy, causing him to fall backwards and onto his butt.

 “Ack!” Caleb looked up to then cry out in fear as he saw what he ran into: Carta Fazbear.

 “Oh?” she leaned over him with surprise. “Looks like someone is breaking the rules.”

 She reached down to grab him but, in a panic, Caleb scrambled back up to his feet and ran away from the large monster of a robot. Unknown to him, Madeleine Marionette ran past the big-haired ring leader and continued to follow him.

 Caleb swerved to the right, thinking that he could escape freely through the front doors in time.

 He wasn’t planning on the tangled robot to be crawling on the ceiling, ready to swing its white-haired head to face him.

 Caleb screeched in fear as he halted in front of the dirty head as it swung from side to side, eyeing him. It let out a low verse of radio static as the two continued to stare at each other.

 As Caleb backed away, he nudged something behind him and turned to see the other, more exposed head, look up at him with its mouth wide open. He gave an ‘eep’ of fright as its one working eye stared at his face and rolled sideways into its head.

 “Oh ho ho ho~ I’ve got you~”

 The haunting voice that slowly approached him sent a feeling like ice cubes falling down his bare back that slowly made him turn to see Madeleine Marionette approaching him, her hands above her head and fingers curved like claws. He saw her mouth slowly open, revealing more of her bright teeth.

 Caleb backed away from her but he bumped into one of the ceiling-crawler’s dangling limbs. From his peripheral view, he saw more of the reattached limbs come down, the main head arching its eye and eyehole evilly. The other head was coming in from Caleb’s side with its mouth open.

 Seeing no way out, he panicked and punched Madeleine Marionette’s face. There was a slight jostle as he felt a large come undone under his fist before he ran away further down the hall. He left Madeleine Marionette stunned, crouching on the floor in front of a large circular object as the robot above her growled at Caleb in anger.

 Caleb ran into the room with the ‘toy’ robots and was thankful to find that there were no androids in the space around the tables before he heard a wild screech from behind him. He took back to running and decided that his best chances of surviving were going to be hiding in the arcade area until seven.

 The guard swerved to the right and dove into the arcade section just like he had last night. He looked left and right as he went between the large machines to make sure that there would be no other robots to get in his way of escape. There was a lot of cover for him to hide behind and evade but not much to hide successfully from Madeleine Marionette. Caleb spotted the carousel for toddlers in the corner and dove for it, deciding that it would give him the best cover from her.

 Soon he could hear the demon screeching only ten feet away from him, but it only sounded like a mechanical scream. Caleb couldn’t hear any footprints emanating from her or any sound that represented movement, just artificial grunts that rebounded within her metal skeleton. What he could hear, was he sound of creaking pipes coming from above.

 It was just his luck that he let out a tired sigh that alerted his pursuer his location.

 Swiftly, the creaking noise only grew louder until it was right on top of him and Madeleine Marionette let out a howl from above, “There you are!”

 He looked up and screamed: she had swung from the pipes and was now without her mask. What laid behind the mask was a frightening sight, for such; her face was ashen black and had deep lines running vertically down, her eye and mouth openings were larger and the LEDs were more visible and illuminated the metal endoskeleton beneath.

 She screamed and flung herself down on top of her prey, coming in for the killing blow. It was by pure instinct that Caleb was able to dodge the incoming robot and fall to his side in a panic. Her head banged into the structure of the carousel and jittered her, making an opening for Caleb to move.

 He ran into the farther corners of the arcade and found cover in between two arcade machines. Caleb squished himself into the dark nether regions and tried to ignore the dust bunnies that occupied it.

 Soon, a thin black figure passed by the space he was hiding in. He waited a moment before he squeezed out of his hidey hole and ran in the opposite direction.

 There was then a sudden tug from the scruff of his employee jacket and felt himself getting lift off the floor, “Gahk!”

 “Oh hohoho!” Caleb heard the same eerie giggle that sent shivers down his spine. “Looks like I caught a sneaky little fish~”

 He screamed as he was turned around to face the senile robot with the extendable arm that was currently hoisting him up onto the machines with Madeleine Marionette crouched on top. Caleb tried to scrambled his way out of her hold as she retracted her arm back into her sleeve, bringing him closer to her.

 “N-no!” he cried out in panic as Madeleine Marionette continued to give him an evil grin.

 For some unknown reason or for that Caleb’s luck was starting to return, but once he was close enough he was able to kick Madeleine Marionette in her chest. She let out a pained squeaky noise as she accidentally let go of her prey and fell over backwards.

 Caleb fell onto his back and gave an ‘oomph’ of pain as he saw stars trail across his vision before he realized that there was a crazy monochromatic clown that was going to be chasing him in a few seconds. He sloppily got back up on his feet and made his way to the Prize Corner to try and seal himself up in the backroom next to the security office. After about five steps his head cleared up and he was able to see the section at the end of the arcade that he needed to get to.

 All was cut short when he was pulled by his ankle and flung back onto the ground. He bit his tongue when his jaw crashed onto the tiles and he tasted blood.

 “Screeek!” Caleb turned his head behind him and found Madeleine Marionette slowly sliding towards him. “No escape!”

 He screamed in fright as the faceless clown’s face grew bigger and bigger as she crawled towards him, one extended hand on his ankle.

 Caleb then turned the other way and decided that he would drag himself to hell with this monster if he could. He begun clawing his away across the floor and towards the prize-infested part of the Arcade, begging to whatever celestial being above that was currently watching him that he would make it to seven without anything harming him.

 The guard didn’t make it to the Prize Corner.

 He felt a stabbing pain on his back and screamed in agony as he then felt three claws curl into his back.

 “You’re mine!” he could hear the mechanical hiss coming from Madeleine Marionette as she let go of his ankle and arched her arm upwards in a killing position.

 Caleb braced himself, feeling tears fall down his face.

 Ding-dong-dong-ding. Ding-dong-dong-ding.

 Yay!

 The next thing he knew, the claws retracted from his back and there was a big whooshing sound that came from above his back before there was a great slam that emanated from the Prize Corner.

 Caleb kept still for an entire minute before he looked behind him and found no Madeleine Marionette trying to kill him. He then looked over at the Prize Corner and found the giant present box shut and the cables back in place.

 Everything was oddly quiet, like Caleb had woken up from an insanely bad dream…in the middle of the children’s arcade…instead of his office. It felt like the entire ‘robots killing’ thing was a hallucination that he’d been having for the past four nights, between the hours eleven and seven.

 That was an odd idea up until the point he felt a stabbing pain on his back and reached his hand back to press against his surprisingly wet wound. He pulled his hand back and saw crimson-smelling red liquid on his fingers.

 Caleb couldn’t remember anything else as he soon blacked-out.

 It was then two hours before Marisa found him on the floor and quickly called nine-one-one to rush him to the nearest hospital.

 During his time unconscious, Caleb had another weird dream.

 Everything started really dark with white streaks in the distance, almost like he was in an intense graphic novel. At first he thought that he was awake and having a moment of bad vision but then he looked down and noticed that he was standing up. He began walking forward, towards the whiter parts of his vision.

 Once he was close enough to the white space he inspected that it was a thick wooden wall that belonged in an old alleyway in a neighborhood with large tin trashcans with garbage inside of them. He stood in front of a large heap full of mechanical lumps and parts and looked at it like it was an abstract sculpture in an art museum- dead and full of empty thoughts. The more he looked at it, the more he saw that the parts were on top of a large tent bundle that felt like a large human being could be decaying inside of it.

 As the thought just crossed his mind, Caleb was alerted to the sound of creaking metal clanging down the left alley. He hurriedly turned in the general direction and found a pair of bright white circles staring at his face that were attached to a large hulking black mess that was stumbling towards him. Judging by the gears and large hunks falling to the ground and making the same sound as pots and pans falling onto a military ship, he assumed that the giant mass approaching him was entirely made of metal or to assume that there was a robotic mechanism making a b-line towards him.

 Caleb couldn’t move as the hulking mass moved into the white light and he saw the most horrifying sight that he’d laid eyes on.

 After about two days, he was able to meet Ti Gold again but not in the way he would think he could. She was misshapen and nearly looked beyond repair, to say the least. Ti Gold was hatless and half-bald; the hair that remained was tattered and frayed. Her vest and bowtie were gone and shirt was half-ripped, scratched, and heavily burnt, exposing thin metal and moving gears underneath. The black pants she wore now resembled shredded boyfriend shorts that were barely hanging onto her thing metal legs, even her black shoes weren’t on her feet. Caleb had been expecting prosthetic skin under her clothes, not thin metal wires and sheets that could be easily wrapped in chicken and be used as cheap armor. What lay under the metal was a dangerously thing exoskeleton that looked like an actual skeleton with metal implants and armor on its chest, face, kneecaps, and elbows.

 Ti Gold starred him down once she was a foot away, her half-faced endoskeleton looking more like peeling skin. Her eyes didn’t even look like regular human eyes but two tiny LEDs embedded into the endoskeleton.

 She starred down at Caleb and spoke in an off-key voice that unnerved him to no end, “S-so, young C-caleb Squ-aire, y-you’ve m-met a terrible fate a-at l-l-la-st? S-so so-on?”

 He remained unresponsive in the dream, staring blankly at her as she continued to speak.

 Ti Gold started to step around him, circling him, “I d-din’t-t h-have muc-ch f-faith in you, a-at a-ll. Y-you’re n-not above average.”

 The words didn’t faze him as Ti Gold came around for a second time, the light in her eyes was dimmed and her head was turned to face away from him.

 “Y-you t-thought that y-you c-could cont-trol your f-fears, like m-most, a-and get o-out a-live w-without the p-puppet getting to you. W-wro-ng. So wrong.”

 Feeling was injected into his dream and he felt his stomach get stabbed by large shards of glass, butterflies in his stomach.

 “You c-can n-not control them, C-caleb, b-but you can learn f-from them. I g-gave you in-form-mation about them-m a-and you s-stuffed i-it back i-into the desk.”

 “I didn’t need it,” Caleb retorted.

 He didn’t know if Ti Gold was angry with him or was just choosing to ignore his words as she continued, “T-there cou-ould have b-been other w-ways for you to discover w-what m-makes them t-tick.”

 “Who are these people?!” in the dream he was angry at her, most likely that his subconscious was angry that she was speaking in rhymes like the last time she’d seen him.

 “Dead.”

 He didn’t know what made him focus on her dead face or what force made her stop directly in front of him.

 “All life forms within the physical bodies are dead.”

 Her voice wasn’t stuttering anymore but there was a metallic echo coming from her.

 “Put it together. There is a pizzeria with thirteen robots in it for a certain reason; you have not solved the puzzle.”

 Everything then faded to black.

 “You’ll figure it out.”

 And that was when Caleb woke up in the hospital, gasping for breath and confused as to why there was a thin tube in his nostrils.

 “What? Where?” he starred up at the white ceiling as a nurse in a navy blue scrubs appeared in his view.

 “Sir? Mr. Squaire, we received a call from one of your coworkers, Marisa, and found you with three puncture wounds on your lower back. Please stay calm and don’t move around too move or you’ll reopen your wound.” the nurse was male, calculating on the deep voice that he had heard.

 Caleb nearly flinched when he felt the nurse firmly hold his arm with the IV in it, but with a calming manner. He checked Caleb’s vitals, “The doctors fixed you right up and stitched up your puncture wounds; you’re going to have to take it easy for a while.”

 “Uh huh,” Caleb listened as he let the news sink in.

 “We’ll need you to stay here until tonight, if you’re feeling up for it. Another nurse will be in here shortly, she needs to know how you received your puncture wounds.”

 “Okay…” Caleb was starting to feel drowsy again as he saw the whole world swirl into darkness and then returned to normal as if he blinked.

 He turned his head to the left and found a young, tan nurse in maroon scrubs and white hair inspecting his IV bag.

 “Uh…hi?” he greeted his new nurse.

 She curved her head to look down at him before she smiled, “Hello, I see that you’re awake.”

 Caleb blinked, “What?”

 “You went back to sleep as soon as Marcus finished up checking on you. From our predictions, you’re suffering from exhaustion right about now. Your job seems to be punching a big hole into your vitals and limiting your sleep, which is a bit surprising since your job would be easy work.” she gave a hearty chuckle. “Sorry, but I suggest that you take sleeping breaks whenever offered.”

 “That’s fine.” Caleb sighed as he leaned back into his comfy hospital bed. He thought about his new sleeping pattern and thought that he’d been doing fine thus far. Caleb would get home and sleep in late into the morning before waking up at twelve to quickly grab a protein bar and head to his other job. He’d then come back to his house around six and eat, preparing for his next run-in with the killer robots.

 The nurse then picked up a clipboard and looked down at him, “My name’s Yaiba, I’m an intern here and I’ll be checking up on you today.”

 “Okay,” Caleb nodded; he wasn’t in the mood for talking.

 “You’re going to be assigned to therapy before you leave, just so that you can get used to moving around with stitches.” she continued writing on her clipboard. “We’re also going to run you through the basics of having stitches and schedule an appointment for you to get them removed.”

 “I…cut my arm when I was younger and had stitches,” he mumbled. “I know how to wash and stuff.”

 “Good,” she stopped writing and smiled. “I’ll check back on you later, just press the nurse button and I’ll come right in.”

 After she left, Caleb had a pleasant nap. He then woke up to find a large lunch prepared for him and Yaiba took him out of his room to take a walk around the floor, informing him of what he should and should not do while his stitches were in place. Apparently jerky movements and running were off of what Caleb should do so his nightly job had supposedly got a lot harder to handle.

 They reached a payphone and Caleb called his manager’s office to tell her that he couldn’t make it tonight because he needed to rest.

 It rung for a few moments before she finally picked up, “Hello? Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria management, New Hampshire location, how may I help you?”

 “Hi, uh it’s Caleb.” he rubbed the back of his neck.

 “Oh good, you’re still alive.” there was a brief sigh before she start scribbling on paper notes.

 “Yeah,” he tuned his voice so that it was sharper. “I’m calling from the hospital and, I have stitches, so I can’t make it tonight because-”

 “Caleb Squaire, we need you hear, on the clock.”

 There was a pregnant pause before he answered, “What?”

 “The company cracked down on security after the ruin of four of our well-made robots were put into Parts and Services, there’s a large story to it but I won’t get into it. Basically, all night guards have to sign a contract that they must watch the building between the hours of eleven at night and seven in the morning and make sure nothing bad happens. If you read the contract fully-”

 “Then I wouldn’t be in this mess, I know.” Caleb was beginning to grow increasingly annoyed with everyone’s reference to him not reading the contract. “But I might not be able to make it through this night, please let me stay at home and rest!”

 “I’ve heard this many times Caleb and most of them made it through. You were only knocked over by our Prize Corner attraction; you can make it out if you put in a little more effort.”

 “Knocked over?!” his outburst made the people around him turn in his direction. “I was chased, screamed at, cornered, thrown, and traumatized by that nightmare! Did I even mention that I’m in the hospital because of that thing?!”

 “Mr. Squaire, calm down-”

 “No. Listen to me, I have a phobia of clowns and I was put through Hell last night because of the position and what was after me!”

 “I still cannot change that you must come to your shift tonight. If you are not here tonight then you’ll be fired and won’t receive your pay.”

 At this point Caleb wanted to shout and punch the wall next to him but Yaiba was watching him with a surprisingly stern gaze. He kept his cool and took a deep breathe, “Fine, I’ll come, but I’m bringing with me a pillow and extra equipment.”

 There was a pause on the other end, “I see, your money will be ready once you’ve finished your fifth night.”

 “Good. Try to have a nice day.” he didn’t give her the chance to respond as he clicked the phone back into the receiver. Caleb marched back to Yaiba to meet her.

 “What was that?” she said in a disapproving tone.

 “I had to call my boss and tell her that I couldn’t come tonight but she threatened to fire me if I did that.” Caleb didn’t meet her eyes.

 “I get it but that doesn’t mean that you have to make a scene in front of everyone here.” she lead him back to his room. “If I remember correctly, you’re the current night guard at the Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria. I hear that their management sucks.”

 “Yeah,” he nodded.

 She gave him a long, hard look before she brought out a white business card, “Here, if you find anything suspicious then you better give me a call and we can meet up at some point.”

 Yaiba opened the door to his room, “You’ll be released in an hour, so please relax while you can before your shift.”

 Caleb took and card and headed back into his room, “Thanks.”

 The door closed behind him as he walked back to his bed and sat down on it to try and watch whatever was on TV. He examined the time and saw that it was around three in the afternoon and that he had more time to rest.

 While he watched TV, he thought of the extra supplies he would bring and what ‘surprises’ he had in store of surviving the night against the fourteen robots that were going to chase him.

 As for the pillow, that was for his back while he sat in the wooden chair.


	4. Tomfoolery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb’s plan for self defense takes a humorous turn for the best and worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way too long but I can say that school dragged me away from this project. I’m actually a bit proud of this chapter and can’t wait to write the future ones after it.

Night five was a bumpy start since Caleb had to come in nearly an hour early to set up his traps and make sure that none of the robots would see him acting suspicious. It wasn’t easy unloading the jars of honey from his truck cutting the rope and wire that he needed.

He then sat down on the wooden chair and adjusted himself against the pillow he sat for his back. Once the clock turned to eleven, he knew that it was his time to shine.

The phone rang and he reached across to play the message.

“Hello, hey, glad t-that you made it to your last night! Not manly employees make it to tonight, you know.”

“Hm, I wonder why.” Caleb said in mock wonderment.

“There’s nothing new for tonight, so just, yeah, watch the screens and keep in mind that the robots are moving faster t-tonight, yeah. Just keep an eye on Carta Fazbear and X Bon because they’re pretty sneaky and, uhh, will get pretty violent on later nights. Demi Balloon Girl is really hard to keep track of but, from what I’ve learned, she appears in the vent on a timer.”

Caleb raised an eyebrow on this.

“Yeah, once she says her lines four times she’ll appear in the left vent. Now, I really don’t know this but, perhaps her timer works with how well she moves or that she must say something when her motion-sensor acts up. Yeah, it’s best to check with the blueprints in the back.”

He checked the arcade on the tablet to make sure everything was still in place.

“I don’t really have much more to say…but they do offer for the night guards to stay on Saturday night, but it gets really harder. There is the extra pay…”

“No thanks.” Caleb checked the west wing of the building and found Candy Bon approaching through the employee hallway. He watched through the tablet and the robot eyeing the two restrooms in front of him before pressing onward.

“There’s always an opening for Sunday night as well, but h-honestly you shouldn’t do it. No one comes out after seven.”

He stopped listening as he saw Candy Bon about to enter the left room that held the closable door.

“T-that’s all…hopefully for tonight. Just don’t get caught and make sure Carta Fazbear is in your sight…yep. Have a good night!”

The message ended as Caleb continued to watch Candy Bon enter his position as he engaged the first trap.

The purple-clothed robot managed to engage the trip wire and nearly jumped in surprise as he nearly tripped. He looked down and saw the wire slide away and towards the ceiling in time to see a bunch of ceiling tiles fall on top of him. Candy Bon fell to the floor with an ‘oomph’ sound as he lay under the tiles, immobile.

Caleb gave a silent cheer and marked a tally on a little post-it note, ready for the others to take their fall. “One down, thirteen more to go…”

It just so happened that X Bon was making her way towards the right vent and heard the surprising clatter. Speeding things up, she dove into the airway and crawled towards the security office at her usual pace.

She wasn’t suspecting the huge mesh of duct tape and plastic wrap to cover her and stick to her old-timey circus clothes.

“Grah!” she groaned as the trap made her immobile and incredible sticky.

“Push!” X Bon tried to wriggle towards the corner to give herself leverage to at least get into the office and kill the new guy.

It didn’t work as she figured out in a few seconds since she was now stuck in the small vent space. She only made it worse by struggling further and making it impossible for someone else to get through, resulting in a blockage.

“Gah!” she screamed in exasperation, a horrific sound that landed on Caleb Squaires’ ears.

He rubbed his forehead before adding another tally onto the small notes, “And that’s another one down. Who’s next?”

Caleb picked up the tablet and went to the left stage to see that Deathly Chic was gone but Carta Fazbear was not, instead she was looking up at the camera with her face half-shaded. He flipped to the Parts and Services room in time to see the faceless robot leave right out the door.

The guard picked up his flashlight and flickered the light down the hall to scare off Bloody Foxy, for her trap wasn’t set up yet. He spied Red Chic in the hall, making a brave approach towards him.

Since she was approaching one of the possible traps for her, he got a bit more comfy in his chair and waited for Red Chic to approach him.

It was almost too easy to predict, she went into the party room with the left vent and waited for a while in the spot in front of the vent, crouched and waiting for Caleb to see her before she began moving again. Caleb took his time before switching to the party room camera, looking down at Red Chic as her mouth was half open in a toothy smile that made him feel like she could see him in the security room. The camera went offline for a short period of time before the feed reappeared to show her struggling against the undying sticky floors and vent entrance.

She hissed in annoyance as she found a bunch of slimy amber liquid that seemed just about everywhere. The strange substance was making her legs stick to the floor and her fingers stick together to make her feel almost filthy and in need of a bath.

She grunted before lunging over to the left side of the vent to try and escape the stickiness, instead she fell, splat, right into the puddle of honey. The yellow dressed robot let out a roar of rage as Caleb watched from the tablet.

He put down another tally, “Well that’s done.”

One thing that he was worried about was if the other robots were to come to the aid of one of their fallen, which would put Caleb in a bad position. It would be better if the other robots would get stuck in the traps as well if they were to help.

He checked on the arcade’s camera and found Ice Bear starring at him with a curious gaze. It was time for her to meet her first trap.

Caleb not only came prepared: he came double-prepared. For larger and tougher entities like Ice Bear and beyond, he had prepared a set for each of them to set off before they were decommissioned for the night.

Once he saw that Ice Bear was on the verge of movement, he let the camera’s light go off and began to listen as to what would be expected to happen next.

Ice Bear saw the light flicker off and she saw her chance to advance towards her next station in the pitch black darkness. She crouched down and went between the gaming systems, towards the carousel. The robot got behind the large contraption before moving back towards her stage.

Suddenly there was pressure on her right foot as she tried to move forward. There was then a snapping noise as the weight on her foot diminished and Ice Bear took a confident step forward. She was soon stunned as three globs of honey flew onto her from three different directions.

The large robot grunted in annoyance as she inspected the yellow substance that had landed on her clothes, touching her face to find that it had even splattered onto her head. It made her angry to think that the new guard would have done this, which resulted in her to visit the main hallway even faster.

Meanwhile, Perry Bon was busy standing still in the main hallway, deciding if she should enter the security office or turn back. To Caleb, this was the faceless robot that had dragged him by his head to Parts and Services earlier this week. She couldn’t see very well and the flashlights only affected her to when she was surprised.

Since the new guard wasn’t flashing the light, she could enter through the right vent and surprise him.

She took her normal route into the west party room and was met with a terrible surprise. Red Chic was making groaning sounds on the floor and was covered in yellow goo that seemed very familiar to Perry Bon but she could not remember what it was.

The faceless robot tilted their head to the side and asked, “What…happen?”

Red Chic just proceeded to thrash on the floor.

Seeing that their means of entering was not an option at the moment, Perry Bon decided to leave the room (plus it would have been rude to go over Red Chic while she was immobilized). She walked across the hall and entered the other party room to try and use the vent in there.

Once in front of the vent, Perry got down on her shaky and rusted knees and crawled inside. She didn’t get far, since she was halted by the struggling feet of X Bon.

“Who’s there?!” the smaller blue robot hissed. “Day Chic?! Mangled Law?!”

“No…Perr-”

“Oh it’s you, the clinging piece of scrap without a face! This isn‘t your vent, so get out!”

Perry Bon was immune to the bratty robots’ insults but she still didn’t take kindly to it. If Perry had a face then she would have arched her eyebrows and frowned, but instead she shoved her only arm towards the bottom of X Bon’s feet and pushed the smaller robot in deeper and towards the point they could barely move. She then crawled out of the vent and nearly jumped when she felt her legs bump up against something.

“Perry? What are you doing in this vent?”

“…” Perry Bon stayed silent.

Her friend, Day Chic, stumbled backwards to let Perry Bon out of the vent. To Caleb, Day Chick was the blue haired robot that stood tall with a dangling jaw and had no hands, a frightening entity that had once tried to pick up the cupcake on the desk.

Perry Bon got out, “Red is…blocking other…vent. X is in…this.”

Day Chic nodded, “I see.” She nodded her head to the side, “Time out?”

Perry nodded, “Time…”

Ice Bear was about to turn the corner and walk down the main hallway, towards the security office. It almost by chance that she met Day Chic and Perry Bon walking towards the kitchen.

Standing under the watchful camera, she looked at the two for a moment and felt the need to start a conversation. There was a tinier voice in her head that was trying to tell her to not act upon any ill intent, but the louder voice spoke first and so she complied.

“Where are you two headed?”

Both of the decommissioned robots looked at Ice Bear with neutral expressions on their grimy faces, each thinking of how horrible she looked at the moment.

“We need to stay out of the vents right now.” Day Chic was the first to respond.

“That’s cheap,” Ice Bear made a sniffling sound. “For what I’ve heard, neither Red Chic or X Bon’s attempts were a success and that we need to pump up the pace tonight. You sit around in the Parts and Service all day; it’s time to earn your stay.”

‘That’s a lot, coming from a clone like you,’ Perry thought with mild disgust. She talker faster in her thoughts and had an A.I. higher than the ‘toy’ androids, plus she had better social skills.

Day Chic’s thoughts were nearly an exact match to Perry’s, but that didn’t stop her from voicing her opinion, “Then do it yourself, we’ll fall in behind once you’re close enough.”

As a clone to Carta Fazbear, she was meant to take orders from a higher order and a higher order alone. In another time, the robots in the Parts and Services room would have qualified, but not today.

“It does sound like a good plan,” the large robot started. “I don’t think we’ll follow it though.”

It was typical, so Day Chic and Perry Bon went in their separate directions to buy time as Ice Bear continued on ahead.

At the moment, Caleb was busy fending off Bloody Foxy as she tried to stampede down the main hall. It was almost midnight and Caleb was thinking that her trap might almost be ready to go, but first he was thinking that it was time for two foes to have a slice of humble pie.

Elsewhere, Deathly Chic had entered the kitchen and was busy wondering what had happened to Ice Bear while she was on the east side of the building. It didn’t matter now, so Deathly Chic went to the nearest pots and pans and began to do her job for the night.

Except that she saw that there were strings attached to the larger kitchen instruments and were intertwined with the lights on the ceiling.

Calculating the causes and effects of what would happen if she were to go on her nightly routine, Deathly Chic side-stepped the arrangement and proceeded to a darker area in the kitchen.

“So, he tried to fool me,” she spoke in a low voice as she approached the walk-in freezer. “He’s getting better at this.”

She reached for the handles on the door and turned the handle before opening the large double doors.

Deathly Chic had made a fatal error, for she didn’t see the fish line that was connected tightly to the handles and tied to the large cooking instruments that she had passed by before. The doors swung open and she violently flinched as the fish line recoiled and activated the trap. Soon the yellow-clad robot fell to the floor as large pots and pans flew onto her.

From outside of the kitchen, many of the robots whipped their heads in the direction of the clattering noises, thinking that something was off with the regular kitchen noises that one of them would usually make. They soon looked away and went back to their normal business.

Hearing the loud crash resonating from the kitchen, Caleb took a moment to switch to the kitchen’s camera feed and listen to what was going on. His trap should have executed without a flaw. He listened to what Deathly Chic would do next.

There was a bit of shuffling and a smaller clatter as Deathly Chic’s misty voice came out, “That…was surprising…”

Caleb blinked before thinking that Deathly Chic was under the pile of kitchen equipment he had booby-trapped and was having trouble getting back up. He could safely scratch her off of the list for the night.

The other one that Caleb mentioned that needed to be dished was Madeleine Marionette. Caleb had not been winding the music box on regular intervals tonight and was timing each wind to make sure none of the other robots were around while her trap activated. There were a few holes in the plan since he didn’t know how she exited the box since he’d never gazed upon her under the camera’s view. The new security guard crossed his fingers under the desk, pleading that it would work one way or another.

He watched the music box empty itself out and heard the haunting tune end before he shut his eyes in anticipation and fear. There was a swift laugh, a whoosh, some shrieking, and a thud before all was silent at the Prize Corner.

Caleb waited a moment before he opened his eyes and held the tablet in his hands before switching on the light to show what had happened in the room. Madeleine Marionette was currently wriggling on the floor, trapped in a pile of plastic wrap, and eyes and mouth lit up with excitement.

She spotted the camera and looked dead out it, her mask forming a scowl, “I know that you did this! So come back here and unhand me you buffoon!”

The guilty night guard cringed, he didn’t need the tablet to hear her since the Prize Corner was only a room to the right. He clumsily put another tally mark down on the post-it.

Seeing that only nine were left on the plate, at such an early time, Caleb decided that it was time to take it slow and let a few robots approach him. It wasn’t until around one that it was time to deal the other part of Ice Bear’s trap.

Ice Bear was back in the arcade and was currently watching out for other attacks from Caleb. She spied some rope near Demi Balloon Girl and made her way towards it. Careful to not let Demi’s voice go off, Ice Bear leaned over her, “What havoc has the night guard set up?”

Demi’s eyes rolled up to gaze upon the larger robot, “He rolled some rope around here and disappeared. Follow.”

Unknown to Ice Bear, Demi Balloon Girl had very low intelligence and took risky procedures to get their nightly job done. Taking the smaller’s advice would be fatal to Ice Bear.

Ice Bear gave a slight nod and sauntered off, “I see.”

She followed the rope’s trail and found that it lead into the main hallway, her single-tracked mind wouldn’t stop until she found out what was at the end of the line. All other thoughts disappeared from her mechanical mind as she saw it twitch.

Her endoskeleton’s eyes dilated with rapt attention. Swiftly, she struck her hand down upon the rope and ceased its movement.

Caleb watched from the tablet as he gave the rope in his hand a slight tug. Since Bloody Foxy was back in Parts and Services and Carta was in the kitchen, this left him to mess with Ice Bear. It was all just a simple game of luring a cat to play with yarn.

Ice Bear then saw it tug from underneath her hand; curiously she let it go and watched it slither into the west party room with Red Chic in it. She then stepped on it to stop its’ actions and grasped it with her other hand. The large robot then proceeded to let the rope guide her towards the directed room.

She entered the party room and saw the rope slither into the left vent and past Red Chic (who was still stuck) and took in the sight of one of her comrades taken down so easily.

“Red?” she questioned. “What has happened?”

The faceless clone of Deathly Chic looked up at Ice Bear, their endoskeleton eyes lit with shame, “I was about to enter the vent but then I became stuck and toppled over; I have failed.”

Ice Bear’s spine recoiled and made her posture relax as she hid from the shadows, away from the security camera, “Did you see a long strip of large string pass by?”

“It slinked around me and into the vent, be careful.”

Ice Bear headed Red Chic’s words and approached the vent. She crouched down and examined the pathway, upon closer inspection she found the end of the rope twitching at the corner. It teased her and made the large robot want to reach out and swat it.

She realized that it was too late once the rope faded from view and her torso was stuck in the vent. Ice Bear then felt a mass under her shift and deduced that it was Red Chic.

“Sorry,” Ice Bear had fallen victim to Caleb’s antics.

Red Chic didn’t say much of anything for the rest of the night.

Back to Caleb, he reeled the last of the rope and decided to check and see if Ice Bear had collapsed yet. He switched over to the desired camera view and saw Ice Bear half stuck in the vent and her legs on top of Red Chic. Seeing the tall android squirm in the odd position it was in.

Caleb safely checked off Ice Bear and continued through the night. Only eight robots remained to be taken care of.

Speaking of those eight, it seemed as if Bloody Foxy was about to be her doom for the night.

The ax-carrying robot had organized their thoughts long enough to get closer towards the security office. She then gripped her hand-made ax with her decomposing hand and angled her lethal hook to make sure the ax didn’t slip from her grip. Bloody Foxy then took a running start and took off like a rocket towards the open Caleb Squaire. Once close enough she pounced into the air, sailing into the office with a wicked scream swirling out of her decaying throat and voice box.

She was expecting the plastic wrap.

It started with a large POP that burst through the air like a large piece of bubble wrap being pricked with a needle. The noise rattled Bloody Foxy’s cranium and made them reboot their system unexpectedly. Her back arched backwards and her ax dropped from her grip as she saw Caleb fly past her and the floor run up to slam itself in her face.

There was then a large CRACK as Caleb saw the wild android hit the floor to his right and let out a sound that resembled a teapot hissing but came out as “Auuuuuuuugggghhhhhhhhh…”

He leaned to his right and was nearly transfixed by the sight of the broken robot. Her neck was surely broken, or at least that neck didn’t look anatomically correct. The robot’s left arm (with the hook) was twisted backwards but still intact. It looked like Bloody Foxy was going to need a new axe…and possibly a few toes.

Caleb stopped looking at her and starred back at the large doorway in front of him, trying to decide whether or not to take a break or not.

“You…” Bloody Foxy chocked.

“Hm?”

“You…did this?”

Caleb gave her a sideways glance, “Honestly, I thought that you’d be taken out by the plastic wrap, not the noise of your impact.”

He could have sworn that Bloody Foxy gave him a grin that exposed a few molars as she huffed, “Kid…you’ve got g-g-guts…to st-stand…up to u-us…”

It was then that she gave a large twitch and laid still; the lights in her eyes dimmed until her circuits fried themselves out.

Caleb gave her a steady look before slashing another tally mark down, a bit jostled by the recent experience. Seven more robots stood and the night guard was starting to think about how messed up his job was again.

Demi Balloon Girl, meanwhile, was left to feeling a bit lonely in the arcade area and thought that it was time to move. She gave a low laugh and disappeared into the shadows.

Caleb heard the noise and checked the arcade’s camera to find the evil munchkin gone. Now the guard wasn’t sure how to catch or disable the small robot, since it liked to play in the shadows, and decided to just try and block off the left vent with duct tape and plastic wrap. There were a few other surprises but Caleb was still not sure if they would work. Demi Balloon Girl was relatively harmless, besides holding a malicious nature for making noise in the office. He was sure that at least flashing the light at her would at least halt her actions.

There was so much that he could do and could not do in case of unsolved variables for robots to fall into his traps.

Mangled Law was another robot that Caleb was unsure about. He checked the cameras and saw that the scrap heap was in the Prize Corner and giving Madeleine Marionette a wary eye.

The smaller, metallic head opened its mouth and let out a dull noise that got the trapped figure’s attention, “Hrr-uh?  Who’s there?”

Caleb raised one of the eyebrows at the tone of the voice. It was scared and innocent.

“Show yourself!” the crazy clown thrashed.

On second thought, Madeleine Marionette didn’t seem so pitiful.

Mangled Law’s more human head angled itself to look over the figure on the floor, “So yo-you’re another o-o-one FFFFALlen?”

There was no response as the plastic wrap bundle twitched.

The jumble above retracted its head and moved out of the camera’s view.

Caleb checked through the cameras until he saw what he was looking for: Carta Fazbear.

The ringleader was hiding in the shadows of the left hallway, inspecting certain wires that Caleb had put on the ceiling. Said night guard gulped, fearing that his trap wouldn’t activate and that she would get to him before seven o’clock rolled around.

Carta Fazbear swiveled her head to look at the camera, making Caleb flinch.

She walked towards the camera and stared deep into the lens, the LEDs in her endoskeletons’ eyes burning bright. The large robot was so close that Caleb had actually backed away from his tablet in fright.

“I know that you did this,” true malice seeped through her voice. “You think that this is all a game that I made up? I’m not a very merciful person, Caleb.”

He wasn’t even aware that he wasn’t breathing anymore.

“Just because you’ve set up a defense doesn’t mean that you’re smarter than the rest of them. We’ve dealt with your kind before, and that won’t stop us from reaching you.”

The camera was disabled for a brief moment before it snapped back and showed the view of the hallway, wires untapped.

Caleb quickly closed the left door in fright; he wasn’t willing to take any chances against Carta Fazbear tonight. Was he afraid of her? Yes. He was very afraid. It was all okay to be extra defensive against her.

Another three robots had been disabled by three in the morning. Mangled Law had been snagged by a few of the dripping wires he had loosened in the main hall and thus could not move. Perry Bon and Day Chic had gone in random directions since neither could enter a vent anymore, but it wasn’t until Perry Bon had limped down the main hall that she had tripped on some wire and Mangled Law came crashing down on top of her. Day Chic had been in one of the party rooms before she had rushed out to check on what the noise was about but came to find her also tangled up in a few loose wires that Mangled Law had not fell victim to.

Caleb looked through the cameras and heard noises come from the kitchen, mostly from a certain tall android that he knew.

“Get up; he is using trickery against us.” Carta let out a low growl.

“I don’t think I can.” Day Chic replied from under the pile of pots and pans.

“You’re barely covered and you possess the needed strength to get back on your feet.”

“Actually, I don’t think my battery was charged before the night shift began…” Deathly Chic’s voice was only a quaint whisper now.

Carta Fazbear was silent for a moment, “I see. So I shall be the one to dig you out.”

“No. Leave me be.” there was urgency in her voice. “You’ll just waste time if you try to dig me out, get the guard and finish him.”

“You don’t run the show,” Carta started, “but you do make a fine point. I’ll take him down before he makes a mess out of anyone or anything around here.

“I’ll sneak around the arcade and then-”

“Hi!”

Caleb flung the tablet down to see the brightly colored gremlin smiling up at him in front of the security desk as it laughed. He then took notice of two thin green and pink colored batteries, crushed on the tiled floor.

It took him two seconds to put two and two together as he arched his eyebrows and glared at her, “Why- you little!”

The next thing he knew was that he was leaping over the desk and ready to strangle Demi Balloon Girl. He took hold of her capped head and slammed it onto the ground before yanking out her fake wooden sign and hitting her with it, “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

“That’s enough.”

All movements stopped abruptly as Caleb looked up to find the tattered half-faced robot standing above him. The blood drained from the guard’s face as he realized his own stupid actions for paying attention to the kitchen camera and the balloon child under him.

The lean robot tilted its head, “Maybe if you get off of Demi I will let you live a little longer before I drag you towards my shared domain.”

Caleb complied, slowly getting off of the smaller robot. There was no use in arguing with crazy robots.

As soon as he was off of Demi, the gremlin got back up and picked up her sign that Caleb had recently dropped and looked back up at him, “Your mean, but I’m meaner too.”

She soon gave him a quick kick to his shin and scuttled into the main hallway.

The half-faced robot looked at Caleb’s face with its one working eye, “Good, now pray tell me, what is your name?”

Caleb took a step back, “its Caleb Squaire…sir.”

A noise escaped from its crushed nose, “Do not address me as ‘sir’, better yet, don’t address me as anything much at all. I would not care.”

The guard felt static start to build from within him, a side effect from becoming nervous, “Then…what is your name?”

“Angel. Angel Fazbear, Carta Fazbear’s predecessor.” it took a wobbly step to the side.

Caleb sat down, “Okay then, Angel Fazbear, what’s it going to take to get through the night?”

Angel turned back around and headed towards a party room, “Honestly, do what you want- I don’t care.”

He looked back up at Angel, “Excuse me?”

“I’ve lost hope in this place,” they continued. “The traps were a nice touch, thanks for the douse of entertainment for tonight.”

Caleb was bewildered by the tarnished robot’s words. Weren’t these androids out to skin him alive? Why was this one so odd?

More questions swirled in his head until he shoved one out of his mouth, “Why did you poke the fan last night?”

Angel stopped and slowly turned to eye him, “It’s as old as me, I am glad to see that it is doing better than my friends and I. It at least has a use as we are left to rot away in the back room.”

“But aren’t you guys used for parts for everyone working?”

“An old excuse.” Angel’s eye narrowed. “True, some knuts and bolts are taken but nothing else is seized from us. We had a purpose a time ago but then we were thrashed, trashed, and left to rot in the darkness.”

Caleb couldn’t believe it; he was starting to feel bad for this particular robot. If Angel’s words were true then that could mean that Perry Bon, Day Chic, and Bloody Foxy could have met the same fate as them.

“Well then, I think that’s enough for tonight.” Angel Fazbear sauntered off. “If you are indeed curious about this building’s past and how I was decommissioned, then you are welcome any time after your shift to come into the Parts and Services.”

Caleb watched as the robot limped back into the dark hallway, their long, ratty hair trailing behind them. He knew that he couldn’t trust these robots since Perry Bon and Bloody Foxy had tried to kill him already in the past few days, but something was nagging at him that he’d have to go deeper in order to find advice in order to survive his shift. But it didn’t really matter anymore, as soon as his shift was over for the night he was out of here with his promised paycheck.

He flashed his light down the hall and saw that Angel’s foot was about to step into an extra trap he had set out for the night. Caleb pulled the rope he had positioned on his right side and pulled once Angel had stepped into the center of the noose on the floor.

The tattered robot fell to the floor with a large ‘clunk’ and was rendered immobile for the rest of the night.

Caleb then felt an odd presence outside of his right door that made his primitive instincts scream in fear and caution that he was about to die if he didn’t take evasive action now.

Caleb right hand flung out and slammed the right door button with the utmost speed that his hand stung from the impact. The door slammed shut and there was a grunt from the other side.

“You foolish guard.” Carta Fazbear growled before stomping off, giving a frustrated kick to Madeleine Marionette as she left through the Prize Corner.

The night guard panted as he took in that Carta Fazbear had nearly gotten him.

As he hastily checked off Angel Fazbear from the list, Caleb was beginning to find faults in his grand plan. Once more robots fell under his traps, the more dangerous Carta began to become. On one hand, they were performance robots and weren’t made to be smart, on the other hand they had a goal to get into the security room and torture the night guard.

Caleb didn’t care, just as long as he could survive the night then he‘d be okay.

By five in the morning things had been far too quiet for Caleb’s liking. Only Demi Balloon Girl and Carta Fazbear were left but neither had yet to make an appearance since Carta’s retreat. He felt like the two were planning something and it really was setting him on edge.

The night guard would check through the cameras at times to see if any of the other robots were trying to free themselves from their traps but none had successfully done so yet. He’d witness Candy Bon try to make conversation with him or try to twist himself out from underneath the ruble and had heard clanging in the kitchen but the two had failed. Ice Bear had tried to push themselves out but Red Chic had struggled from under them and had just made Ice Bear even more stuck. X bon had been making weird noises in the right vent for the past hour and it was really starting to grate on Caleb’s nerves. Mangled Law, Day Chic, and Perry Bon had some-what untangled themselves but a bunch of wires had both loosened and tightened and they had all sat down in the middle of the hallway to organize themselves.

At one point Caleb was considering taking a nap but the looming presence of Carta Fazbear and her munchkin, Demi Balloon Girl, was hinting otherwise.

Everything was quiet ever since Caleb had started to not use his flashlight. Demi Balloon Girl’s battery-breaking had driven Caleb insane because the flashlight was his only defense to see what was happening right in front of him in the main hallway’s darkness. Now that he was on his last pair for the night and that most of the robots were trapped he could salvage what power he had left.

The night journeyed on as Caleb continued to look through the cameras and observe Carta and the androids. He stopped by the poster with Carta Fazbear smiling at a crowd of children that was placed in the room to his right. There was a part of him that wondered if Ti Gold would make another visit tonight as if to say ‘goodbye’ or ‘goodnight’ or just a simple ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’ to him.

Ti Gold had always been odd, or at least in his two meetings with her. The first meeting had been a fright where she had wanted him to research about the daytime robots but all the night guard had gotten out of that was the possibility of Ice Bear coughing up ice cubes. His second meeting with the spooky entity made him cringe every time he remembered it; Caleb still couldn’t place if Ti Gold had entered his head or if his brain was loopy from blood loss and exhaustion. Both meetings had ended with Ti Gold telling him to learn more about the robots and to help them.

Fat chance he was going to help a bunch of blood-thirsty robots.

He flipped out of the camera and searched for Carta Fazbear, diminishing the thoughts of Ti Gold out of his mind.

Carta was on the move, hiding in the shadows of the left hallway and pretending to not notice the camera on her. She was set to head into the west entrance of the office and surprise him there by giving him a false illusion of herself heading back.

Once she was close to the left room she waited in the doorway and watched him there. She looked at the ceiling ruble on the floor and nearly wanted to snap Candy Bon out of his daze but found that it was not the time to do so yet. Carta waited a whole five minutes to make Caleb know that she was there.

Caleb knew something was up when he saw Carta staring at him from the corner of his eye. She wasn’t fast but was large and strong; he would easily shut the door if she even twitched.

The worst of his problems? Getting distracted.

He saw a tiny frame approach him from ahead, trying to ease his attention away from the larger entity in the left doorway. Caleb had only a little under two hours, he could make it…he could make it.

And that was when Caleb decided to bring out his trump card.

Swiftly, with a bit of caution to make sure he wouldn’t unsettle his stitches, he threw flung his hand under the desk and pulled a rope that wound its way through the left door. Carta Fazbear then felt a tug on her left ankle and quietly looked down to see that the rope Caleb had tugged was somehow knotted around her. She then realized that Caleb had been egging her on to this exact spot nearly the entire night.

But no tiny meat-bag could take her down! She marched out of the shadows and stepped over Candy Bon, intent on showing this guard who the boss was around here. Carta marched right into the office as Caleb continued to tug on her sturdy leg.

“Well, well, well, well, well,” the large android chanted as she looked down at the helpless guard. “If I remember correctly, one of my daughters damaged you quite severely last night.”

Daughter? Did she possibly mean Madeleine Marionette?

“She has plenty of potential, yet she lacks a direction.” Carta Fazbear was now towering over Caleb’s left. “At least she has the logic to follow my commands now.”

“Your children aren’t born to be your servants.” Caleb needed to buy more time.

“Funny, last time I checked, my two children weren’t born like you humans. Then again, that wouldn’t matter.”

 “Then why have her only come out as soon as my shift starts? I’ve experienced what she can do.” the guard gestured to his injured side.

Carta gave out a bark of laughter, “That wouldn’t be as fun to see you tortured, learning your lesson to the fullest exempt!”

“Ma’am, the only thing I’ve learned from this job is to not ever affiliate or step foot into this demented place ever again.” he huffed, bracing himself.

“Well then,” she raised a large hand up in a striking position. “Our little talk has been enjoyable, but it seems that your time is up.”

“That’s where I beg to differ, since it almost looks like it will be raining soon.” Caleb smirked and caught the taller figure off guard.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m saying that it looks like you’re going to need an umbrella.” he then tugged hard at a hidden rope hidden under his security jacket.

The next thing Carta Fazbear knew, there was a strange noise over her head as she looked up to find a large TV come crashing down on top of her.

It landed with a sickening crunch and the glass shattered, spraying all over the floor and scratching Carta’s face. The robot stumbled backwards but tripped and fell to the floor as the rope still held her to Caleb. Her top hat fell off without grace as the back of her cranium banged into the wall behind her, prompting her large form to slide down onto the floor.

There was then a sickening silence as Carta didn’t move from her position on the floor.

The tiny frame that Caleb had seen earlier came waddling into the office. Demi Balloon Girl stared at Carta’s fallen form with wide eyes, her plastic eyebrows arched into a look of concern.

“Carta Fazbear?” she went to her leader’s side. “Mother?”

So she was the other ‘daughter’ that the ringleader had spoken of.

Demi looked up at Caleb, her face one of pure emotion, “You decommissioned her!”

He was then surprised as the small gremlin ran up to him and head butted his knees, knocking the chair and him over, “Hey-!”

“Carta Fazbear is gone!” Demi began to flail her tiny arms.

Caleb got back up, ignoring the attempts to harm him, “Get off me, you brat!”

He shoved her aside and she rolled away quite clumsily, her tiny limbs twisting in frustration. But that wasn’t the end of it. Caleb walked back up to her, picked her up, and dunked her into the large waste bin that was beside the wooden desk. Not wasting a second, Caleb traveled into the dark hallway and threw the basket and tiny robot into the darkness.

With that, Caleb could safely cross out the last two robots off the list; all thirteen had been subdued.

The young guard sat back down in his chair with a huff, exhausted from the shenanigans he had pulled for tonight. At least this would be the last and only time he would ever do this. Lessons learnt, he would probably go Amish and travel into the countryside- away from all machinery.

“Is Carta really dead?” a voice from the right vent startled him. It was the trapped X Bon, sounding muffled due to the fact her face was pressed up against the vent walls.

Caleb sighed, “I don’t know, I just wanted her off my tail.”

“But you don’t have a tail.”

He ignored the small android.

“You’re pretty good at this,” Red Chic from the left vent said. “No other guard has dared to do this before.”

“Be quiet Red,” X Bon grumbled.

“Why don’t you both be quiet?” Candy Bon’s voice was muffled by the debris.

This then escalated into a three-way argument between the three bots as Caleb grew irritated from their scratchy voices.

A few minutes later, he had finally had enough, “SHUT UP! If I hear you three argue anymore then I’ll spray-paint your faces to resemble the actual clowns you three really are!”

Silence ensued, much to Caleb’s approval.

He checked the time and found that he had an hour and a half left with the rest of the robots. Caleb checked the cameras and found that Mangled Law was looking into the vent with X Bon in and that Day Chic and Perry Bon were relatively elsewhere. Elsewhere being sitting back in Parts and Services- done for the night.

For safety reasons, he flickered his flashlight down the main hall and still found Angel Fazbear too still to suggest that they really wanted to move anymore for the night.

“I know that you’re really not going to spray-paint us.” Candy rudely interrupted. “You need the money from this job.”

The security guard let it slide, choosing to ignore the male android’s comment.

“And if you want that money, then you’d better clean this up.”

Was that a threat? From the playful robot that had first warned Caleb of the duties that came with being a night guard?

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he murmured in return.

After that, everything returned to the complete silence and stillness it was supposed to be. Mangled Law had come in earlier at one point but had only taken a look at Carta Fazbear’s fallen form and left in fright (or joy?), making beeping sounds as it crawled on the ceiling. He hadn’t dared to touch the tablet, buttons, or flashlight after that, instead he actually picked up his book and decided to finish reading it. His original plan for the job was to be finished no matter what.

Ten minutes left and Caleb decided that it was time to pack up and at least try to clean up.

He got up and placed his belongings in his bag before holding his pillow under one arm and making his way down the main hallway. Of course he left sticky notes with certain androids, detailing that the amber substance was honey or how the robots had injured themselves.

Once into the party room that lead out into the front entrance, Caleb heard a rather odd noise coming from the deep pits of the arcade area.

He stopped and turned to look in the general direction, the sound of rapid shuffling coming closer. It wasn’t until he looked down that he realized what was coming for him.

There she was, a struggling Madeleine Marionette that had somehow freed one of her spaghetti arms and was dragging herself across the floor to meet Caleb. Ragged huffs of steam escaped her mouth as a sign of exhaustion.

He jumped in surprise, the sight making his stomach churn.

“You…” the smaller bot huffed in anger as her claws scraped against the tiles. “You are in so much trouble.”

He didn’t waste a beat to run out of the room, unlock the front doors before relocking them behind him, to lean against his car. Caleb clutched his side as he tried to retain his breathe and even out the pain from where Madeleine Marionette had stabbed him last night. Seeing her again, up close, had enflamed his wound and caused a stream of fear-filled memories to plague his mind.

Once he had collected himself, Caleb unlocked his car doors and carefully set himself inside, placing his bag and pillow into the passenger’s seat. He started the car and adjusted his rearview mirror-

-and screamed when he saw an unwanted guest, glaring in the back row of his car.

Caleb accidentally banged his head against the left window and cursed before looking behind him to find Ti Gold, the tiny white lights in her eyes back, and her arms crossed, “What the heck?!”

“What the heck?” she growled. “What the heck yourself. I can’t believe that you did that. Oh, wait- maybe I misjudged you and now see a darker side to yourself.”

The small guard shook his head as he blinked in confusion, “I don’t follow.”

Ti Gold lurched forward and leered down at him, “Don’t follow?! You humiliated and ruined the souls in there! You think that it’s funny to lower yourself to their standards?!”

Caleb pushed himself away from the ghost, “They were asking for it! I had no choice since that clown-freak nearly killed me last night! Why do you even care about them, maybe you’re just scared of losing them because they somehow resemble you?”

The air in the car dropped twenty degrees and an immense aura of dark chakra surrounded Ti Gold as she spoke, “No more riddles. I’ll just tell you what’s up.”

Next thing Caleb knew, his car had shortened-out as Ti Gold leaned in closer, “I don’t have the resources or information to get the current information on Carta Fazbear, Candy Bon, Deathly Chic, and the rest of the gang, okay? Someone who would be accustomed to their ‘nightly parade’ who would understand-”

“Pfft,” it was Caleb’s turn to cross his arms. “Parade is a lighter term to use.”

Ti Gold gave him a grim look that made his statement fall flat, “So that they would understand the importance behind the research and would be intrigued by it. Naturally, the duty would fall to you, the Night Guard.”

“Haven’t you tried any others?”

“Not the first few,” she turned away. “I didn’t know or wasn’t there when Carta first issued orders to hunt down the people who came to work the nightly shift. Even I don’t know why or how she got them all to follow her so please do not press me about it.”

Something in her tone made Caleb relax his arms.

She looked back at him, “Just because I’m a ghost doesn’t mean that I know everything. I used to be one of them, but I’m much older and…dead.”

“So, you’re saying,” Caleb’s posture relaxed. “You need me to grab some information on the robots and bring it to you?”

“Half-true.” she leaned back into the seat, looking oddly calm. “There are ghosts in the machines that need to be freed. I have yet to see them but I know they’re there- I can feel them.”

“Hang on, there are more of you?”

“No, it’s just me.” Ti Gold adjusted her top hat. “Like I said, I haven’t seen nor conversed with them so I don’t know of their current status. However, learning about the machines and bodies that the ghosts are in are a key part to figuring out how to free them.”

“I’m lost again,” Caleb bowed his head. “There are ghosts in the machines, yet you don’t have any proof, and they need to escape?”

“How else do you think that the robots are hunting you down at night?”

That got him. Caleb had read over a line that stated that the robots were shut down after their dayshift and had no way to move around since the circuits in their brains had been severed for the night. If there were ghosts in them, then that would explain things on a munch different level.

“Then…” he scratched the back of his head. “Would freeing the ghosts mean no more ‘killing the night guard’ games?”

“If you mean to lower the mortality rate of you and your other employees then yes, it would.”

Well that threw a wrench into things.

“Seeing that all the trouble that you caused tonight will most likely get you fired,” the tall ghost examined her burnt hands with mock boredom. “I’m going to have to pull a few strings to make sure you come back for another round of fun next week.”

Caleb paled, “You wouldn’t.”

Ti Gold grinned up at him and he swore that the IT’S ME lettering changed to TRY ME, “Or would I?”

Her frame faded from view and Caleb was left starring at the back seats of his car.

He grumbled and turned back towards the front of his car, shivering. Caleb restarted his car and turned on the heater to try and warm up the atmosphere in his vehicle somewhat before driving out of the parking lot, cursing anything and everything related to Ti Gold, Carta Fazbear, Madeleine Marionette, and etcetera.

An hour after he got back home, he received an angry phone call from his boss, “What happened last night?!”

Caleb sighed, “I defended myself against them. I knew that they were all going to be after me last night and decided to find a way to prepare myself for it. Since I am still recovering from the events from yesterday morning…”

She waved him off over the phone, “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Look her though; if I don’t see Carta Fazbear at least running by the time this place opens, then you’re fired!”

“You can’t fire me,” Caleb sat back in his chair. “I’m already done with my job; last night was the last night. I should be paid by now.”

There was a muffled groan on the other line before an uncharacteristic chuckle came through, “Too bad! I’m filling you in for next week as out guard again! Keep up your apathetic behavior and I may apply you in as the permanent guard.”

Caleb looked at his cell phone, “Ti Gold?”

“What the heck is a ‘ti gold’ Caleb?!”

He flinched, “N-nothing! I’ll report for duty on Monday night!”

“You better.” she growled and hung up.

The night guard sighed before standing back up and heading towards his bed. He’d thought that he’d seen the end of Carta Fazbear and her troops’ shenanigans but he was wrong. Ti Gold had meddled with his new terrifying life and had made things worse. Surely the robots would be enraged to see him again on Monday night.

Everything had gone terribly wrong.

Caleb had entered Monday morning to get an easy job with easy cash but had exited out on Saturday morning with a mortal wound, loss of sleep, a new fear for inanimate objects and the quiet darkness, and a reason to not ever eat pizza or look at cables ever again. He had only wanted to help his grandfather, not face his fear of clowns or get pulled into risky supernatural business.

The small guard flopped onto the bed and let out a breathe, thinking about what the future held for him. There were so many possibilities, so many choices. He could just leave. Never go back to the pizzeria. There was the possibility that Ti Gold would find him and drag him back.

Madeleine Marionette’s twisted form and Bloody Foxy’s words had more of an impact on him that lulled him into a fever-induced sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe if I wasn't so overworked I could write this a bit faster, sorry.


	5. Family Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb deals with the aftermath of his actions from last Friday night and trouble begins to brew between him and the robots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been working hard at this, we’re now just getting to the good stuff. Now that we’re halfway done there’ll be more storytelling and world building stuff going on.

 “Yeah Mom I’m fine…no, no, it’s not about what Aunt Frankie said last week…”

 Caleb was currently spending his Monday evening talking to his mother. He had been brushing it off for the past few days and had decided that tonight was the night he’d face the music.

 “But she yelled at you last Thanksgiving!” his mother exclaimed over the phone. “She thought that you were lazy and indecent when you ruined the pies.”

 “I really don’t need to be reminded.” Caleb said in an ashamed tone, casting his head down.

 “How is your new job going sweetie? I heard that you earned yourself a night shift somewhere.”

 “Yeah, I work at the Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria branch down on Hilensburgh Street. It’s left me tired.”

 “Oh what fun! Ah- not the loss of sleep of course. I meant the part about being the only person at night with the animatronics.” an excited clap was heard on the other end.

 Caleb grimaced, yeah what fun indeed. He didn’t want to upset his mother, however, with the news that the robots wanted to kill him. “Yeah, though they’re not animatronics. It’s a special branch where the robots look more human.”

 “I see, it sounds very exciting.”

 “During the day it is, I assure you,” he chuckled. Caleb always liked it when his mother grew excited over something; it always made him happy to see her not depressed after her mother died a few years back.

 “Could you show me around at one point, I would love to see the place you work at. I could pop in during your shift one night and bring some snacks-”

 “No. Mom, really.” the sandy haired man said rather sternly, regretting his decision immensely.

 “Oh,” his mother grew quiet. “I see…”

 Oh crud, he made his mother cry.

 “M-mom, please, I love you. It’s just that I’m- I’m not allowed to bring anyone else in on my shift. I could show you around during the day, enjoy the shows, eat some pizza at least, we can see the magic happen during the day” he held his breathe.

 “It’s alright,” she sniffed on the other end. “I accept sweetheart, how about Wednesday? Will they have shorter hours then?”

 Caleb sighed and gave a relived smile, “Yes, Wednesday is good. They open at eleven and close at three that day. I could pick you up around twelve or one; think you’ll be hungry around then?”

 She laughed, “Of course, I can’t wait for our time together.”

 “Same,” Caleb wrote down the appointment in his planner. “How is grandpappy doing?”

 “He’s…fine. His medication isn’t helping anymore, he says, but the doctors say that he’s being too stubborn to take it now. I guess he’s still broken hearted after Maria’s death and wants to…”

 She started crying again.

 “Hey, hey,” Caleb tried to soothe her. “We’re all still recovering from Grandmoma’s death. He took it a lot harder because he loved her the most out of all of us.”

 “You’re right,” there was a heavy breathe. “I still can’t believe that she’s gone.”

 “Me neither, but we have to remember that she’s watching over us now.”

 “You are the brightest star in my sky tonight, Caleb.” she sighed. “What would I do without you?”

 Caleb chuckled, “I’m glad that you still have me.”

 “Me as well.”

 And so Caleb checked into his nightly shift with higher spirits. He had goals in mind for this week and was eager to live up to them.

 First, he was going to meet his mother on Wednesday and enjoy their time out together. Next, he was going to arrive early on Thursday’s Thanksgiving celebration and help with the turkey, vegetables, and pie to make his family proud and put his nuisance of an aunt in her place. Finally, he was going to get Ti Gold off his back by gathering all of the information he needed for the spectral enemy while also dodging all of the killer robots.

 For this week, he didn’t need his book. All he needed was his wits and attentiveness to play Carta Fazbear’s games and Ti Gold’s mission.

 “Let’s get it on!” the fresh guard challenged as he sat down in his wooden chair and readied himself for his second week.

 Eleven o’clock rolled right in and the familiar chime played throughout the building- signaling the start of another round of ‘Vanishing Bears ft. Carta Fazbear and Her Bloodthirsty Gang’ for the nonexistent audience.

 The phone rang and Caleb went into his familiar routine of listening to the person on the phone talking.

 “Hey, so I w-was informed that you got yourself into s-some pretty deep, uh, trouble on your last ship? Heh, y-you’re really brave to do something l-like that, you know? Lucky too, seeing that you didn’t get fired.”

 Quickly, Caleb checked the cameras and saw that Carta Fazbear was looking up right at the camera in the room where she, Candy Bon, and Deathly Chic were situated for their daytime job. Her stare gave off the impression ‘you’re dead and no one will be able to hear you scream tonight, boy’ and Caleb gulped, remembering he had caused her to snap her neck on Saturday morning.

 “Back to the present, the r-robots are supposed to, uh, reset themselves on Monday so that their processors d-don’t get fried. T-they’re sure to act the same as they did on your first shift. Doesn’t, hrm, mean that they won’t forget any data imputed into their systems, j-just that their A.I.s are lower again.”

 He looked at the phone with an eyebrow raised, too tired to even make a snide comment.

 “That’s all for tonight- oh! T-that’s right, I was also t-told to, uh, inform you that you have your Thursday and Friday shifts off. Happy about that, huh?”

 Not a big surprise, since it was only natural that a place like this would offer their employees a Thanksgiving break. At least the pizzeria had the humanity to let Caleb have some peace.

 The phone clicked off after the employee said their goodbyes and the returning guard was back at it again.

 Surprisingly, that was all the action he saw in the first hour. Besides rewinding Madeleine Marionette’s music box, Caleb hadn’t seen any other robots move an inch.

 Half an hour passed on and Caleb checked in to see X Bon on the move. She sneaked around rather obviously in one of the party rooms as she fiddled with her red guitar. The guard had to admit that she looked rather silly and out of place at night.

 He kept a close eye on her and flashed her a couple of times to make sure she didn’t advance further. Rather soon, he checked back on the western side of the building and found Candy Bon making his way down the hall.

 The fanged robot had an apathetic look on his sculpted face that made him look strangely out of character. Normally, the purple-vested character would appear with an open mouth or bright eyes with signs of life and eagerness. Tonight, he just looked like he needed to get some business done.

 Caleb waited until Candy Bon was outside of the office before closing the door, “So, we meet again.”

 There was no response for a moment, “What a surprise, it seems that the trickster has returned.”

 “Hmph,” Caleb smirked and checked back on X Bon. “Trickster is a bit low, don’t you think?”

 “I will admit, I did deserve your trap from a few nights ago,” did Candy just let out a sigh?

 X Bon, currently, had moved into another party room and was trying to spook Caleb by getting really close to the camera.

 “I probably deserve more, like permanent decommissioning.”

 He hadn’t expected the android to say that, taking a second to look at the closed door.

 “I won’t bother you that much tonight, how about that? At least I can do a little more to make sure that not everyone comes out in pieces.”

 There were light footsteps on the other side that stretched farther and farther away before they disappeared. Candy had simply walked away.

 X Bon would soon tumble into the security office five minutes later to inspect Caleb but leave soon after she saw him with the bear head on. To him, tonight looked almost like all of the robots had reset themselves on an easier mode.

 He watched as Deathly Chic stepped down from the stage an hour later and made her way towards the kitchen. Red Chic, meanwhile, was busy waltzing down the main hall with her plastic cupcake accessory in hand. Caleb had to flash the light down the hall to ward her off into a party room.

 The guard then went to the kitchen to listen in and see is Deathly was still there. He was met with a chilling surprise.

 “Nice going last time,” the gray haired robot spoke to the camera. “You managed to dislodge my right arm, how nice.”

 He knew that it would be useless to retort back to her since the tablet didn’t have a microphone that transmitted into any selected rooms.

 “This is your final warning, we do not make nice to those that meddle with Carta Fazbear’s system.”

 Caleb then didn’t get any action from Deathly Chic for the rest of the night. In fact, all of the robots were rather tamed this night. Candy circled back around a few more times, X Bon only came through the vent three times, Red Chic only came into the office once, and Deathly Chic never approached the right door. Madeleine Marionette’s music box was even on a lower setting which taunted the guard.

 It unsettled him. As if Carta was planning on something big and ruthless as revenge for Caleb’s ploys from his last night.

 He did his best to leave the pizzeria that morning in a hurry, in case one of the robots broke protocol and attacked him before his next shift.

 Once home, Caleb did his best to fall asleep but couldn’t, instead he spent the next three hours staring up at his pale blue ceiling.

 His next shift didn’t fare any better.

 The phone rang again and the same employee spoke her message, “Glad to s-see that you’re still in one piece, huh-eh? Like always, things will begin to pick again and Bloody Foxy will be out a-again.”

 He checked through the cameras and saw that Candy was already offstage.

 “To be honest, the androids from Parts and Services that you managed to misshapen further weren’t fixed up like the others. Not a surprise, really, they just probably look scarier…or angrier.”

 Bloody Foxy moved out of the camera’s light and towards the door to Parts and Services.

 “Heh heh ha…don’t mind me- i-it’s probably just my imagination.”

 Caleb flashed the light down the main hall and was able to stop the rampaging robot from making it towards the security office.

 “Hey, since I’m still supposed to be giving you updates- b-but you really don’t need to, uh, know more -I’ll try to research and tell you some fun facts about the place.”

 “No thanks,” Caleb hissed as he heard clanging coming from the right vent.

 “I looked into the catalogue for the back room today-” paper ruffled from the other end of the line, “-did yo-ou know that we-we’re supposed to have parts from six different robots in?”

 Now this caught his attention as he swiftly put the Fazbear head on.

 “I can only count four in there, really. S-so that, uh, means that the other two were dismantled months ago and sor-orted into boxes. The manager has stated that the four in the back were only ever supposed to be used. Do you, uhm, think that there could have been previous blue prints for two extras ‘bots?”

 Caleb’s breathe hitched in his throat. Oh no. Either there were two more robots he had to watch out for or there were two extra ghosts like Ti Gold…

 “I’ll check back into it l-later. Just focus on getting through another night and n-not doing anything like you did last week, okay? Peace-out.”

 Another call was finished and Caleb had been sent back to reality to deal with the living demons.

 The androids that had moved last night made frequent appearances earlier in the evening and that Bloody Foxy was gaining ground in the hallway faster than Caleb had time to flash his flashlight at her. Was it just him, or did she look even more tattered from last time?

 He didn’t have time to ponder anymore as Deathly made another appearance at her designated door, prompting him to so slam the correct button to close her out.

 This pattern continued until three in the morning where Caleb’s arms were growing sore from all the slamming, reaching, grabbing, flexing, and stretching he had to do just to stand on equal ground against the haunted ‘bots. A part of him was scolding himself that he shouldn’t have taken yoga in high school and have taken the regular gym classes instead. Perhaps, when he got out tonight, he would actually start working out and put some muscle into his noodle arms just to stay fit.

 Caleb nearly slipped up when he accidentally pressed the left door button to allow Candy inside but he caught his mistake and slammed the door back into the male robot’s long nose.

 “Ow,” a muffled sound from Candy’s voice box was heard on the other side.

 Around four in the morning was when Bloody Foxy went back into the Parts and Services room. This lessened Caleb’s weight as he was able to check for the doors and vents more freely now.

 At one point he was able to check up on Carta Fazbear but she was only looking at the curtain ahead of her with the same plastic look on her face. This unnerved him only a little…only a little.

 He continued on with his shift as Bloody Foxy came back out a little past five-thirty. She continued trying to charge and fling herself into the office but Caleb was just as quick to flash the light at her. Thankfully, he had switched out the failing batteries with the newer ones he had received at the start of his shift. He’d have to check later who was leaving him the batteries and thank them personally.

 It was then almost time for his shift to end when Caleb’s flashlight finally gave out and he realized that he was in deep trouble.

 The harsh thundering sounds of metal feet on cold tile made Caleb become conscious of what Bloody Foxy’s real intent was.

 She took a flying leap and screeched her way into the office, makeshift ax raised in front of her and ready to strike a killing blow.

 Caleb was just barely able to dodge the incoming assault as he flung himself to the floor but was nicked by a jagged edge of the blade.

 “Ah!” Caleb shrieked in pain and put a hand to his arm where he had been cut, surprised by how much blood had managed to well up in such a short amount of time. It looked like he was going to have to make another trip to the hospital for stitches…

 Bloody Foxy, meanwhile, had swiftly landed next to the wall behind the desk with perfected ease and was now leering over the guard with her one eye. She looked over at the blood on her blade but the expression on her face didn’t change.

 “Was it worth it?” the words tumbled out of her greasy mouth.

 Caleb didn’t answer as he scooted himself backwards, away from the undead pirate robot.

 “I asked you a question: WAS IT WORTH IT?!” her shriek sounded like two pieces of sharp metal grinding against one another.

 “I-I don’t know!” Caleb cried out, shaking in fear.

 “YOU DON’T KNOW!” she gave out a loud bark before taking a step forward. “YOUR ACTIONS ARE YOUR OWN DOING! YOU MUST LEARN TO PAY UP TO THEM!”

 In no time flat, Caleb was on his feet and running at full speed down the Main Hall. His new goal was to escape the wrath of the glitched-up robot.

 Bloody Foxy was not new to this, apparently. For she dropped her ax before pushing herself over the desk with her hook, and pursued Caleb, “YOU CAN RUN BUT YE CAN’T HIDE!”

 The sandy-haired guard didn’t need to be told twice as he tried to ignore the pain in his side and shoulder. Hopefully his stitches hadn’t snapped. He ran at the fullest force that he could muster before a hook snagged the back of his jacket and he was flung against one of the walls.

 “Argh-!” the back of his head banged against the slick wall and he saw silver stars dance across his vision before a glowing red orb came into his field of sight.

 “Now I’ll ask ye again; why did ye trip Angel after they had surrendered to ye?” Bloody Foxy’s hissing voice brought the returning guard back to reality as her ax fell an inch away from the side of his head.

 He quickly gulped, “I-I’m sorry! I- it was foolish and was afraid-” The words spilled out of his mouth as he searched for an excuse or some way to buy time before seven.

 She slammed her ax against the wall once again, silencing Caleb. “Aha! A coward I see! So that’s what explains ye…”

 Caleb’s blood ran cold as she leaned in closer, “Do ye know why the ‘big boss’ isn’t here?”

 He shook his head.

 Her mouth creaked open a bit more, “Because she doesn’t know I’ve got ye. Nobody’s told her because I drew the short straw to talk to ye. On any other night, the blue scallywag or the balloon rat would be scamperin’ off to the cruel captain. The others are keeping them off so that we can have a nice little chit-chat.”

 “You-” Caleb stuttered.

 “I what?” the ax scrapped closer to his head. “Now see here ya little cabin boy, you returned here for a reason. You’re the first night guard to return for a second week-”

 “Not my choice!” the words burst out of him in fierce defiance.

 Bloody Foxy growled and showed more of her silver canines, “Quiet!”

 Caleb gulped and shut his pie hole.

 “Now I want to slice my hook into ye and spill yer guts onto the deck but I’ve got a mission!” she leaned out of Caleb’s personal space. “Angel Fazbear was a wee bit upset after you snagged her; even I’m still surprised they have waved your invite into our room.

 “Anyway, we want to know why yer still here.”

 There was another thought circulation around the guard’s mind, “Marionette-”

 “Deathly’s got her settled.” the pirate huffed.

 “…Ti Gold made me.”

 A look of genuine surprise crossed his attacker’s face, “Who?”

 Caleb looked up at her, squinting, “Ti…Gold?”

 A moment passed between the two before Bloody Foxy gripped his left shoulder and slammed him against the wall, “Don’t play yer mind games with me, ma’ boy!”

 Blinking, Caleb looked blearily at his assailant, “Wha-?”

 “There’s nothing that’s a ‘Ti’ nor anything ‘golden’ around here, ye got that?! End of discussion.”

 “But-”

 “End. Of. Discussion.”

 He gulped, “Got it.”

 “Now,” she relaxed his hold on him. “Answer the darn question before your shift ends. We want to know why you came back.”

 “I was requested because of my shenanigans back from my last shift.” Caleb gripped his bleeding wound again. “The manager is making me stay another week, okay?”

 She took a couple of steps back, her ax trailing away from Caleb’s face, “Thank you, now that wasn’t so hard.”

 He ducked to the side, “Well, aren’t you going to gut me now?”

 Bloody Foxy widened her mouth in a…smirk?

 “Nah boy, as much as I’d love ta’ you just ain’t in the mood anymore. You know- the ‘running for yer life’ kind.”

 The guard gave the decaying robot a frown, “Ha ha, very funny.”

 She raised her axe and began to edge away to the Parts and Services room, “Ye better keep that mouth in check, just in case I’d be wantin’ to actually go against me words.”

 The vermilion-tasseled robot stalked back to her room just as the alarm for seven o’clock chimed. His shift was up.

 Caleb slid down from the wall and onto the newly polished floor, taking the chance to catch his breath. The whole event was just like a dream- an awful dream.

 He shakily stood up on wobbly knees and rubbed the back of his head, taking toll of the damage down by Bloody Foxy. His head didn’t feel too banged up, so he’d figure that it was safe to skip out on a doctor’s checkup.

 As soon as he figured the coast was clear, Caleb picked up his belongings and rushed out of the building so no other unwanted visitors could corner him for questioning.

 He then had a long sleep that morning before we went out to meet his mother for lunch at the pizzeria.

 “Oh Caleb, you don’t have to be so chivalrous,” Grace Squaire complemented her son who opened the front door for her.

 “Nonsense, please let me,” he smiled as he led her to the front desk.

 Just as luck would have it, Marisa was on hostess duty that day. She perked up once she saw Caleb’s face and his elderly guest.

 “Good afternoon Caleb! Here for a little daytime magic?”

 Caleb chuckled, good humored, “Yeah, my mom wanted to check out where I worked so I invited her to allow me to treat us here.”

 “I see,” Marisa looked at Grace. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, you’re son has done a great job patrolling the place at night.”

 Grace smiled up at Caleb’s coworker, “Oh that’s good to hear, it’s very nice to meet you too.”

 “Anyhow,” Marisa picked up two colorful menus. “Allow me to show you to your tables.”

 She led the two towards one of the booths near the back, away from a birthday party that was taking place near the stage. “Sorry that we can’t get you nearer a stage, we usually have those reserved for large families, children, and birthday parties.”

 “It’s no bother,” the farther away from the robots, the better.

 “Also our back room is full right now so I’ll be seating you two in here.” she sat them down and gave them their menus. “The next show will be starting in a few minutes; also a waiter will be coming shortly for you to order drinks.”

 Marisa waved goodbye, “Have a fun time!”

 As soon as she was gone, Grace turned to her son and said, “She’s a fine girl, I hope you two are getting along.”

 “Mom!” Caleb cried at her musings.

 Soon they each ordered a soft drink and sat back to watch the show as the lights dimmed.

 “Hello everybody!” X Bon’s voice drifted from behind the curtains with mighty eagerness.

 “Hi boys and girls.” Red Chic’s greeting was softer than her partner’s.

 “How are you doing today?” Ice Bear’s deep voice was happier during the day than it was at night.

 The birthday party giggled a bit, hearing the trio address the audience.

 “We can’t hear you!” the robots sang in unison.

 The birthday party cried out in excitement as a few of the other guests at the other tables joined in.

 “Alright!” the curtains parted to reveal the three rosy-cheeked robots as they waved and nodded to the crowd.

 It was then that their eyes stopped and focused on Caleb as they began to sing along to the music.

 

“Maybe it’s the spotlight or you’re looking fine,”

“I can’t believe you’re here to dine.”

“We weren’t expecting you to come,”

“So why not pick up on the bass drum!”

 

 It was odd, but Caleb found a slight chill trailing up his spine as he heard the lyrics. Their cold gazes weren’t helping.

 “These are well-made machines,” his mother thought aloud.

 The sandy haired man nervously chuckled, “Y-yeah…”

 They continued their song for a couple more minutes as the children near the stage tried to sing along rather off-key. Another song came on after the last, more slow in beat.

 

“Just because you’re here now,”

“I can see where you hide as we bow.”

“We can play later,”

“Where the sun doesn’t allow us to cater.”

 

Caleb gulped, their eyes still on him. To ease the tension he turned to his mother with his menu, “So hey, what do you want on your half of the pizza?”

 She looked away from the stage to glimpse at her menus, “I would care for some black olives and garlic cloves, how about you?”

 “I was thinking of anchovies and pepperoni.”

 Once the song was over a waiter came by to take their order which Caleb greatly took in charge of.

 Another song then came on that was more upbeat.

 

“Take the lead,”

“In your stead.”

“We will see,”

“Where you will be.”

“For we know,”

“Where you’ll show.”

 

 Either Caleb was going crazy or the songwriter was a total creep trying to stress the night guards out and make children crazy with messed up nursery rhymes.

 He had to sit through two more whole songs with a fake smile so his mother wouldn’t suspect anything before their pizza arrived. A farewell song was produced before it was the trio’s cue to return behind their designated curtains.

 Grace finished her first slice of pizza, “Caleb, I think the place that you work at is wonderful.”

 “I’m glad you think so,” he was glad that she didn’t need to worry about him, but he felt guilty not telling her the whole truth. In fact, he felt himself sweating up enough buckets to fill a moderately sized sailboat. The robots on stage had acted like they were off script just to scare Caleb.

 They continued to eat their lunch in silence before Caleb paid the bill, “Do you want to check out the rest of the building?”

 She lit up on the offer, “I would love to sweetie.”

 He guided her into the main hallway and began directing her towards the Security Room.

 “The Parts and Services room is where they keep all the parts and blueprints for the robots here, I’ve even seen the broken versions of the older ones.

 “Then there are the birthday party rooms for private parties. They haven’t been in use lately since Thanksgiving’s tomorrow.

 “Kid’s Cove is for the toddlers. They have a large play room and plenty of fun things to do. The staff has even customized two robots for the kids to play with.

 “I haven’t seen much of the kitchen but I hear from Marisa that it’s large enough to have a walk-in freezer. The camera in there doesn’t work but it can still pick up audio.”

 He finally introduced his mother to his nightly office, “And this is the Security Office; this is where I work at night.”

 Thus only the silent Derek was at the desk with his headphones on and staring intently at the laptop screen. Grace looked over at Caleb’s coworker before deciding that he shouldn’t be bothered with.

 “It’s very roomy in here, plenty of old television sets too.” she nodded to him.

 “Indeed,” Caleb sighed. “I still don’t know much about the history of the room but I feel like the TVs used to be for some sort of filler entertainment when the robots weren’t in order.”

 She gazed at the large air ducts, “Now why would you need these?”

 He followed his mother’s gaze, “Ah, I’m not sure. The building’s old so I guess they didn’t want to renovate the air ways.”

 Grace nodded before turning towards her son, “It’s very cute.”

 Caleb silently thanked that she hadn’t noticed the hefty steel doorways to question him what abomination he needed to keep out of the office. He took her out of the office, “I’ll show you to the arcade, maybe we can play a game if it’s not too crowded.”

 They went back down the main hall and back into the cafeteria they had eaten their lunch in before led Grace to their right and into the huge room with the flashing electronic do-dads. A few younger kids were on the carousal near the corner and much older teens and their underlings were nearer the arcade machines. Grace took a moment to take it all in.

 “Do they have ski ball?”

 “Yeah!” he led her to the side of the room with the ski ball lanes. “Wait here; I’ll go get us some tokens from the change booth over there.”

 He made it to the black coin slot in a hurry and pulled out his brown leather wallet to collect a few bills to trade in for Golden Fazbear Tokens.

 “Hello.”

 Caleb nearly jumped a foot in the air when he heard the familiar greeting from the little gremlin he knew all too-well. He looked down at his right side to see Demi Balloon Girl at her balloon attraction.

 “Hi!” her wide eyes were trained on his face.

 “What are you looking at?” he smartly remarked before inserting his first dollar into the machine.

 “You have a nice mother.”

 The comment made the new guard freeze as tokens jingled into the slot for him to take. He slowly looked back down to look at her.

 “It would be such a shame…” she slowly slid a little towards him, her eyes darting back to look at his awaiting guest near the ski ball lanes.

 “…if something were to…” Demi’s eyes looked back up at Caleb and her smile stretched.

 “…happen to her.”

 He took the tokens and scurried away, spooked by the small robot’s threat. It shouldn’t have scared him since she was nearly harmless, but the threat had been sincere since she could go and run for a stronger robot to do some actual damage. Following the rules, however, none of them would dare leave their positions until he came to his nightly shift. The worst the balloon vendor could do was attempt to break his mom’s kneecaps.

 Caleb returned to his mother, “Hey I got enough for a few rounds.”

 Grace took one of the golden coins, “Thank you Caleb.”

 He let her have the first game and she scored moderately. Caleb then took the next before his mother got another turn and he finished the final game. They counted up their tickets and found that they had at least fifty.

 “Should we see if we have enough for a prize at the Prize Counter?” Grace pointed towards the back of the room.

 The color drained from Caleb’s face as he saw where his mother was pointing. Going there meant having to get close to Madeleine Marinette again…to gaze into abyss eyes and hear that haunting voice…

 “S-sure,” he tried to smile, hiding his evident fear of the monochrome clown.

 His mother took the lead this time as they headed for the back of the arcade where a group of children were busy deciding what they wanted from behind the counter full of cheap prizes from the dollar store or Walmart. Grace held the tickets in one of her hands as she looked at the prizes at the counter that could be bought with a small amount of tickets.

 Caleb eyed the closed present box next to the wall warily. He knew that if he made one wrong move, or if someone pulled the lever, then the monster inside would jump up and show itself in all of its gaudy glory. Once that thing was out in the open, Caleb made the decision to get as far away from the atrocity as fast as he could.

 Thankfully, his mother chose a strange neon ball-object with strange rubber spikes and googly eyes. She looked at him, “Do you like it Caleb?”

 He didn’t, really, but he found it amusing for his mother to choose such an object to remember their time today.

 Caleb smiled, “It’s neat. What is it exactly?”

 “It’s a little buddy,” she jiggled it softly. “I’m going to name him Henry.”

 Caleb laughed, “He sure looks like one!”

 He didn’t notice the curious optics peeking through a slip in the giant present box.

 That night, he strolled into the pizzeria with a lighter air. This was his last night this week and, hopefully, his final night. He hadn’t solved Ti Gold’s case but he was willing to believe that she could forgive him. At least he wouldn’t be able to face Carta Fazbear ever again…

 Caleb sat down at his desk and poked at his batteries, waiting for the bell to chime. Once it was an hour to midnight, the building signaled that it was time for his shift to start.

 He looked at his tablet to view the main stage and saw that Candy Bon was missing just as the phone rang.

 “H-hey! It’s me again! I have some more updates to give you…tonight.”

 Caleb watched as Deathly Chic also stepped off the stage and exited the camera’s view.

 “I’ll just get the bad news out of the way, first. Uh- looks like you’ll have to come back next week to help pay for the damages from last err- week. The Manager says th-that since this week is a h-holiday that it really doesn’t c-count.”

 “Fantastic,” he grumbled as he spotted X Bon prying the right vent open.

 Papers fluttered on the other end of the phone, “Ah- and for some nightly reports…did you know that this is the second building to try making human-looking robots?”

 Now this caught his attention as he took a moment to stare at the phone in shock.

 “Y-yeah, apparently it wasn’t as big…and th-there were uh, only two robots…”

 His mind whirled as he spotted Candy Bon walking down the left hallway.

 “But it was back in the eighties…I don’t have a specific date as to when it started…” more paper rustled. “Sadly, the place burned, uh, down…whatever was left of the robots was either p-put into storage or, uh, trashed at a metal plant.”

 He put on the Freddy head as X Bon came into the office.

 “That’s all I have, for now…I’ll inform you of anything else later…”

 Caleb slammed his hand down on the left door switch.

 “Until then, h-have a nice holiday!”

 The phone clicked off and Caleb quickly rewound the music box. Once Candy had gone away, he reopened the left doorway.

 “I heard from Demi that you brought your mother in today…”

 Deathly Chic’s voice in the right doorway made him slam down the button for the right door, instantly blocking any attempt inside.

  “Rude,” she let out a huff.

 “What does it matter to you anyway?” he snapped at the grey-haired robot.

 “I was just trying to make polite conversation.” her voice rose a little higher than what he was used to.

 Maybe he shouldn’t be so mean to them, but then again- they were trying to kill him.

 Deathly Chic continued, “Carta is coming a little early tonight, thanks to your little stunt from last week. I hope you’re ready.”

 She walked away and Caleb was able to raise the door.

 Hours passed and Caleb was forced to step his game up. Carta had become active an hour earlier than he had expected and she had been making the most frightening of faces whenever she came in view of the cameras. He shivered whenever he heard her chilling chuckle come wandering down the halls.

 Soon he was at a point that he needed to change the batteries but Perry Bon was about to crawl out of the left vent. He decided to wait by settling the Freddy head on his head.

 Perry Bon crawled out of the airway, onto her three remaining limbs. It took her a moment to stand up on her thin legs and stare at Caleb. She leaned in closer to try and get a better look, throwing her right arm a little back to balance herself. Caleb kept absolutely still as those crimson optics stared down at him.

 Finally, she shakily turned around and vanished into the darkness of the main hallway. He threw the bear head off and checked the doors before switching out the used batteries with the fresher ones with shaking hands. Caleb hissed when the screws nearly tumbled to the floor and almost started crying when he heard heavy footsteps approach from the main hall.

 At last. At last! The batteries were packed and he aimed the torch down the main hall, screaming.

 Red Chic was advancing towards him without her exo-suit’s face on. Her eyes were black with only white pinpricks in the center of them, trained on him. The spastic flickering caused her to take a step back and blink a few times.

 Seeing that it was enough, he dropped the flashlight and checked the doors- nothing. He checked the vents- X Bon was about to crawl out.

 Caleb put the Freddy head back on and sat still for the small robot. She tumbled out as usual before jumping up to look at him. The blue robot carefully inspected him with their grinning face. Was it him or was she taking longer than she normally did?

 X Bon then dispersed from the room, leaving the sweating guard alone.

 He threw the head off once again and reached for his tablet to rewind the neglected music box. Must not let the puppet escape tonight. Must not let it escape…

 A large hand slammed its hand upon the table, startling Caleb so much that he almost felt his eyes pop out of his cranium.

 “Well well well,” Carta’s sadistic voice swirled down to meet Caleb as he snapped his head up to look at her. “Looks like I found the sneak who broke my neck last Friday.”

 The guard gulped before jumping up and taking a step back. He continued to stare up at the ringleader, frozen in place.

 She let out a wheezy laugh before lifting her hand off of the table, approaching him, “I’m not mad that you did that; I’m a little proud actually, none of the other guards didn’t have that kind of spunk.”

 Caleb began to breathe faster, backing up against the paper-covered wall behind him.

 Carta slowly leaned down until she was at eye-level with him, her arms folded behind her back. Her built-in eyelids were adjusted to be half-lidded in a smart attitude, “It gets a bit boring, punishing the bad. Every night I have to make sure my family does their job and make sure that you pesky little rats don’t escape the supreme hand of justice…”

 He spied Candy Bon in the left doorway- were his optics…sad?

 Caleb looked straight into Carta’s white eyes, “W-what do you mean?”

 She let out a laugh that sounded more like a metallic bark, “I know your little plans…killer. You can’t escape your fate.”

 Neatly, she put a large hand on his left shoulder, “Now, are we going to do this the easy way…or the hard way?”

 He didn’t answer; he was too scared to move.

 She moved him a bit to the left, “Well then, I believe you know the way.”

 Caleb was shuffled to the large entree way of the security office, trying to struggle out of the larger’s grip. He had to think! Think! How would he be able to get out of this mess now?

 His fear began to take over his mind. He was supposed to be at his mother’s house tomorrow with his family for Thanksgiving. They were going to meet up and catch up on what had been happening since the last feast, eat plenty of delicious food, maybe even pass around a football outdoors.

 Caleb Squaire couldn’t die yet…

 So that’s how he decided on a simple plan in just five seconds.

 He looked up at Carta, nervously, “H-hey, y-you have s-some u-up-d-dog on y-you‘re vest.”

 Carta Fazbear halted and looked down at him, her eyelids wide with confusion, “What?” She looked down at her vest, releasing her hold on Caleb to flatten her clothes, “I don’t see any…”

 The guard made a dash for it.

 She didn’t realize what was happening until Caleb was a yard away. Jerking her head up she arched her eyes, “Get him.”

 A blue blur known as X Bon sped past her and pursued her prey. Caleb sped down the hall and dived into the kitchen to find something to defend himself with. Unfortunately, that’s as far as his plan went.

 X Bon rushed in after him but stopped at the sight of Caleb holding an electronic hand mixer.

 She laughed shrilly, “What are you going to do? Throw that at me?”

 The mixer hit her dolled-up face and the two fell over backwards with a bang.

 Next, Caleb picked up a large pair of salad tossers and held one tosser in each hand. The next robot to come in was Deathly Chic who was a whole foot taller than the dazed X Bon on the floor.

 She craned her neck to look at Caleb with his tossers raised, “So, it’s finally us two at this, huh?”

 Deathly Chic took one step and Caleb charged, swinging the right fork at her. She expertly caught it but didn’t see the left spoon coming towards her side. There was a low grunt of surprise before she took his other arm and leaned into his face.

 “You forget- this is my turf.”

 She then threw the guard aside and he skidded onto the freshly shinned floor. Caleb raised himself back up as the yellow-dressed robot approached.

 Deathly Chic adjusted her bib, “As much as I hate to say it, but you were a worthy adversary.”

 She raised one hand and darted forward, ready to strike.

 Caleb closed his eyes and scrunched up, primed for the impact.

 There was a large crash that emitted almost too close to his face. It took him a moment to open his eyes and stare up at his attacker.

 Deathly’s eyes were half-lit in a cold way, her fake lips flattened into a seemingly lifeless line. She leaned forward ever so slowly, her plastic eyes baring into his soul as he was amazed at how deeply blue the irises were painted.

 “Run.”

 He was taken aback by that, “What?”

 “You heard me,” there was a rumbling in her mechanical chest, almost sounding like a growl. “Run.”

 Fog rolled out of the openings on her face and billowed around them, creating a haunting image of the room on fire- almost.

 Caleb scurried out of the hold with a cry of panic before bolting towards the lock-in freezer’s doors. His final chance at trying to escape until the alarm rang.

 He wasn’t counting on a hunched-over figure near the corner of the kitchen to shift suddenly and turn around to face him. It was Day Chic standing in front of the freezer doors with her wide eyes starring right at him.

 One of her arms reached out at him, the tangled wires inches away from his face.

 The guard screamed and fell backwards in horror before his back hit something small and moving.

 “Going somewhere?” X Bon nearly spat out.

 She grasped his shoulders, squeezing them rather roughly, as Deathly Chic leaned in closer and Deathly Chic stood up from her spot on the floor. He was cornered.

 Deathly Chic inched closer and closer, her thin mouth drawn down, “I guess it’s time to say goodbye…once again.”

 The door creaked open and Carta Fazbear ducked under the doorway to tuck her large body into the kitchen. She trained her bleached eyes onto the caught Caleb Squaire before putting a large hand on Deathly Chic’s shoulder.

 “And so your luck runs out, dear night guard. Tonight you finally face justice for your evil actions.” a soft chuckle was grounded out. “This has been coming to you for a long time now…”

 If Caleb were calm and collected then he would have rolled his eyes and told the enormous robot to stop talking already but he was scared beyond his normal level of fear he normally endured during this job. There was no way out of an excruciating death this time. Four entertainment robots against one measly human in that room was far too crowded for him to fight back. Not to mention, the other robots waiting outside just in case he did escape.

 He gulped and shook in his spot. This was the end.

 Deathly Chic was looking at him with dimmed optics, half-flickering with emotion as she put her handless arms together nervously. Her back was hunched over as she peered from Caleb to Carta, “Um…m’am? We should head out this…room-”

 “I know what I’m doing,” Carta Fazbear took her head off of a still Deathly Chic before placing on top of Caleb’s capped head. “Drag him to the next room; I’ll get the suit ready.”

 She sauntered out of the kitchen and next door before X Bon clutched at Caleb tighter, earning a shriek of pain from him.

 He was hauled to his feet as the smaller pushed him towards the kitchen’s door, Deathly Chic walking by his right side while Day Chic took his left. Caleb tried to struggle but each slight movement he provided X Bon she would clutch him harder. The small guard was sure that he was going to have many bruises dotting his arms if he were to live.

 Day Chic opened the door for them and Deathly Chic stood aside to allow X Bon and their guest to pass first. To the grey-haired robot, they were a funeral march just for him with her dimmed optics and grim face. The taller, more broken, version of her had what was left of her face sunken into a sad expression.

 They came out into the main hall and Caleb shut his eyes against the bright sunlight that had somehow filtered from the front of the building’s windows and into the main hall. He had forgotten how close it was for him to check out from his shift.

 Maybe he still had a chance.

 Caleb stopped struggling as they approached the door to Parts and Services, the gears in his head turning as to what trick he would pull out next. He was quite sure he had a few minutes left…

 The guard looked back at X Bon, “So, what’s your relationship to Red Chic?”

 She tilted her head a bit to the side, “Relationship?”

 “How do you two,” he made a few small hand gestures, “know each other?”

 X Bon frowned a bit, “We’re sisters, partners.”

 “Same with Ice Bear?”

 “We don’t…get along as well with her…” she looked away from Caleb and continued onward.

 He smirked, seeing that he was getting somewhere, “Oh really? Why the averted gaze?”

 “Averted?” X Bon’s head twitched, confused at the new word.

 Caleb felt the blue robot’s hold slacken and he bolted.

 The two yellow-dressed robots jolted in surprise as the guard ran in the opposite direction: towards the front doors. He was out of the hall by the time Mangled Law came crawling over to them, her more complete head slack-jawed in shock.

 Carta Fazbear came out of Parts and Services, her eyes arching in anger once she saw the escapee, “Not again.”

 The mangled robot let out a howl before pursuing Caleb, both Day Chic and Deathly Chic making way for the more lethal pair of robots.

 Caleb was out of the cafeteria as he heard a distorted voice yowl across the building, making him speed up and fish out his keys. He slammed into the glass doors and brought one of the brass keys to the keyhole.

 “Come on, come on-” he gasped as Mangled Law roared once it had entered the lobby area.

 He ducked once Mangled Law tried to take a swipe at him- missing him by merely a few inches. It let itself go on a few pipes and swung farther down to try and sweep Caleb off his feet with a wider arc. This time Caleb felt a snag on his security jacket as a metallic claw tore through his clothing, missing his skin.

 Abandoning the door, Caleb flew towards the front desk and backed into it, preparing for the final blow.

 Mangled Law swooped down from their perch and lunged.

 There was a loud crunch and whine from above before the bell rang.

 Ding-dong-dong-ding.

 Ding-dong-dong-ding.

 Yay!

 Caleb braced himself, looking up.

 It was Ti Gold, holding back Mangled Law’s form by both of her jaws- one burnt hand on each.

 She grunted, pushing Caleb’s assailant back, “Not now, sweets…we need him to bring us justice…”

 Mangled Law let out a soft whine before they shrunk back into the disappearing darkness the shadows provided. Ti Gold just shook her hands before turning her head to give a fake grin to Caleb, a pinprick of light in each of her blackened eyes.

 She chuckled, “You’re losing your touch.”

 Caleb brought himself up, frowning slightly, “No thanks to you.”

 The ghost ignored the statement and gave a hearty chortle, hands on her hips, “I hope you’ll be able to bring out you’re A-game next week though, because I hope to see you bring in something juicy!”

 Caleb looked up at her, squinting his eyes in hatred for what she was pulling.

 “Oh don’t look at me like that, you have to remember that this is for a greater good.” the golden ghost floated towards the windows, watching the sun rise and shine its beautiful golden rays across New Hampshire. There was a soft look on her face as the lights inside of her head dimmed, calm.

 She turned to him, “Have a happy Thanksgiving, dear Caleb Squaire.” 

 Before he knew it, Ti Gold became a dark shadow and swirled out of existence.


	6. You Can't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mystery behind the thirteen robots begins to unfold. Does Caleb have the stamina he needs to make it through without loosing his head?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that this is the last week of school I’ll try to finish the first part and begin working on the second part before college. The pace of this chapter is faster than I hoped, but I have two more surprises up my sleeve before the finale.
> 
> [Warnings: Transphobia and suicide mentions.]

After Thanksgiving and the two weeks after were some of the worst headaches he’d ever had. Caleb thought that once his third week was up things were all over but a certain poltergeist had managed to make sure he had another month of work ahead of him- where he even had to work the day shift a few times as well. Once the fourth week was over he was thrown into a pattern where he finally felt a bit at ease with his job, in a sense. Now he knew all the cues and tricks to working the insane job with its insane hours. He now thrived off of little to no sleep and had managed to keep his work life away from his family life after he treated his mom to lunch.

Christmas was now coming and the holiday season was hitting fast. Children and families filed into the building like it was nobody’s business. The whole restaurant was decorated with fuzzy, fake snow and fake Christmas trees with cheap ornaments from Target. Snowflake decorations were hung with the silver star ornaments from the ceiling as the robots underwent a change in character.

The toy models each had festive accessories and played Christmas carols like the ones on the main stage. X Bon wore a red vest with green trimmings and her guitar had a green pine tree sticker on it. Ice Bear wore a pastel blue sweater with a smiling snowman gazing upon the crowd and had a peppermint pin on her top hat’s ribbon. Red Chic had red and green bows around her waist and ankles and her plastic cupcake was now painted a pastel blue with snowflake-shaped sprinkles.

Candy Bon wore a silver vest with blue and white zigzags and had mistletoe pinned to his top hat’s ribbon. Carta Fazbear wore a fuzzy Santa jacket and had black boots on to look more like the cheery Christmas icon. Deathly Chic was dressed like her smaller counterpart but her ribbon colors were reversed and her cupcake had red frosting, green wrapping, and white sprinkles.

Demi Balloon Girl had a festive balloon in her hand and her area was now a winter wonderland. Madeleine Marionette had a large red ribbon around her small waist and smaller, matching ones around her wrists as her present box now had miniature ones shuffled against it atop of a white carpet.

Caleb Squaire sat down at his usually desk and braced himself for his Thursday night shift. He had gotten into the routine of appearing around five minutes earlier so that he could get settled in like a normal student, ready for their lesson. His lesson tonight, however, would be the same he’d been having for the past few weeks.

Survive.

The bell sounded for him to start and he had the tablet grasped within his hands. Shortly the phone rang and Caleb sighed, ready for another drone of uninteresting information. Sure the woman’s ramblings the second and beginning of the third week had been interesting, but overtime she had only been relaying facts about the company itself and the past of the building- nothing of real interest.

“Uh…hey. I see that you’re set to work until the Christmas break begins…bummer.”

She sounded more upset than usual tonight.

“Anyhow, I have s-some more information to tell. I was rifling through t-the old e-employee f-files and found something from o-one of the ehh- employees from the eighties…from that branch with the two human robots b-before. Their, uhh…name was Delilah…they were the chief of security back then…”

Carta Fazbear had Candy Bon in the hall with her; the smaller of the two had their optics dimmed in fear of their ringleader.

“She died, a-apparently…her body wasn’t found…”

Caleb sat still as he watched X Bon blink at the harsh lights in the right vent.

“D-delilah was there when the f-fire, erhm, happened- working even. She wasn’t seen when it started or wasn’t at her p-post when she was…uh, supposed to be there, you know?”

He had the Freddy mask on as Red Chic and X Bon were in the office, starring at him with their analyzing optics.

“There’s more to the story…but I should end it there for tonight…eeuuuhhh- but I’ll also say this: If y-you somehow find Delilah, y-you might get some, er, answers as to how or why that place b-burned to the ground all those years ago. Good night!”

The phone clicked off and Caleb was left to his own musings as he evaded the robots for another night.

Much hadn’t changed ever since Ti Gold had rescued him. For one, Mangled Law never made much of an appearance in the security office after that. The Frankenstein robot had only sneaked around the large doorway and crawled into the right vent to check up on him but would only go as far as to adjusting the cameras or scampering away from the light in a spider-like fashion.

Carta Fazbear had been relatively different. She had picked up her pace a bit once his break was over and he had returned to work, making his shift feel like overtime. Now that the cold weather had settled into the building, her pace had become lax and sluggish in comparison to his first week.

The first four hours were regular as he spotted the onslaught of robots trying to invade his office from every corner of his sight.

At one point the realized that he forgot to use the restroom before he exited his home. He groaned and shut his eye for a moment, the fact then dawned on him that he might have to relieve himself before his shift ended or else he would be found inside of an empty animatronic suit with wet pants.

In the end, Caleb decided that he would wait it out until his shift ended. As soon as the bell rang he would rush for the restrooms in the west hall.

An hour passed and Caleb was beginning to feel his sanity weaken.

Day Chic and Perry Bon had managed to team up and appear in both vents at the same time on numerous occasions, each taking a long look at his covered face before slowly walking out. Bloody Foxy had backed off into the farther reaches of the hallway, her fangs flashing in the light that his flashlight gave off. X Bon and Red Chic had restricted themselves to patrolling the party rooms since the vents had been occupied by their broken counterparts, each trying their best scary faces in front of the cameras. Angel Fazbear had only made appearances from within Parts and Services or within the main hall, not getting too close in case of further damage from the returning night guard. Ice Bear and Demi Balloon Girl had been spotted in the arcade turned to one another to look like they were conversing.

Other than the usual suspects, Caleb had thought of trying to sneak out of the side doors to try and find a way to get into the men’s restroom. Dang it! If only it weren’t Thursday but instead Monday; he could see Candy Bon giving him free waver to have a restroom break. The fanged robot did seem more lax then the rest of them when it came to the rules…

An idea appeared in his head. It was a rather risky chance, but Caleb decided to go with it.

He waited until Candy Bon came to the left door, “Hey Candy?”

Surprised, the purple-clothed robot replied, “Yes Caleb?”

“Is there any chance that I can have a bathroom break? I really need to go.”

Candy Bon stalled for a moment before answering, “Sorry dude, but Carta would get in and drag you out- game over.”

Caleb squinted at the screen of the tablet, “Can’t I have this one leeway? I promise I will come prepared for guard duty from now on.”

There was a rush of air from Candy Bon as they released air from their fake throat, “I should really be trying to get you to Parts and Services right now…”

“I’m desperate,” he managed to sway Red Chic out of the hallway with the flashlight. “Please, I wouldn’t be asking you this otherwise.”

Only silence greeted him, making Caleb think that Candy Bon had gone away to alert Carta Fazbear of the guard’s moment of weakness.

“Fine. Make it quick.”

Those magic words are what got him out of his chair, “Thank you. Thank you!”

Candy’s hand appeared out of the darkness, “Hurry, before someone runs to Carta.”

Caleb scampered into the left hall as Candy followed him, “I’ll keep a low-key on this hallway, I’m sure Deathly Chic will make sure that it looks like you’re still at your desk.”

It sounded all too-friendly. He turned to look up at Candy, “Why are you helping me?”

The fanged robot set its jaw straight and showed its pearly whites before making a hissing noise, “because you asked for this- now go!”

Caleb was pushed into the men’s restroom and gave a soft ‘oomph’ at the force Candy Bon had used to usher him inside. Heeding the given advice, Caleb made a quick run to the nearest urinal.

A few minutes later, Caleb sneaked into the shadows of the doorway and looked for Candy Bon, “Psst? Are you still out here?”

No response.

He gulped and stepped out of the restroom, keeping to the shadows. Caleb made it to the left opening of the security office before a cold hand grasped his shoulder.

The guard shrieked before turning to punch whoever had come up behind him.

His fist made contact with Candy Bon’s, surprisingly soft, face. He starred at the taller robot for a moment before pulling his arm away, “I’m- I’m so sorry!”

Candy put a hand to his face and felt out a puff of steam, optics dimmed, “Its fine…”

Yet Caleb had a horrible sense of regret deep in his gut telling him that he should be a bit more sincere.

“No really! I shouldn’t have-!” he put a hand to the other’s shoulder before he was flung into a world of blackness.

Hit by surprise, Caleb screamed as his field vision swirled into a black and white wonderland. He only came back to when he suddenly opened his eyes and saw that he was in a grey environment, a middle school boy’s restroom no less. Everything was in monochromatic tones…minus a certain figure washing their hands.

They looked to be a few inches short of their average height and had baggy grey sweatpants and a sweater that was akin to simple nineties fashion, even white sneakers to match. Their hair was a sugary brownish-red and they had a nose that was retreating upward. Finally, they had high cheek bones and long eyelashes, with pointy ears to tie the whole look together from Caleb’s point of view.

“Uh…” Caleb moved in front of the large mirrors near the door. “Hello?”

There was no response as the person finished washing their hands and went to the hand dryers- Caleb then noticed that they had sky blue eyes.

When they were half-way done drying their small hands, a group of laughing figures with masculine voices made their way into the restroom.

The smaller person flinched upon hearing who had come in and turned around with a scared look on their face.

Caleb stood to the side as he inspected the newcomers. They were each in monochromatic schemes but held little to no difference from the others. Where there were supposed to be heads upon their shoulders were only black scribbles and twisted white smiles.

One of the boys stepped forward, “Well Cindy, it looks like you’re here again, even after we told you what would happen if you came back.”

“I told you!” the colorful person on the other side of the room known as ‘Cindy’ responded. “I’m a guy! I can come in here!”

“Really?” the others behind him chuckled. “Last time we checked, you were a girl.”

“I’m not a girl!” ‘Cindy’ shrieked, throwing their arms down to their sides, hands curled into fists.

Caleb felt like their voice was so familiar…yet he couldn’t place them out…

The gang approached their prey and the night guard suddenly felt the air drop at least twenty degrees. ‘Cindy’ took a step back and froze when they realized that there was no escape.

He didn’t want to watch as the bullies came upon the smaller student as they shouted, “I’m a guy! My name is Candy Vire! Stop-!”

The rest was just a blur of fists and blood as they began to beat Candy to unconsciousness. They felt him bleeding on the restroom’s floor as his head and neck were oddly shaped and his heart slowly came to a halt.

Caleb slid to the floor, holding his hands over his mouth in horror. He’d just witnessed a murder…a poor child’s murder.

The guard was then yanked out of the vision as he was pulled back to reality to stare at Candy Bon looking at him with a dead expression on his face.

Caleb gasped, taking a step back, “Candy…?”

“What did you see?”

“I…” he finally realized why the voice was so familiar…

 “What. Did. You. See.” Candy Bon growled and advanced, their eyes becoming obsidian orbs with red pinpricks in the center of them.

Caleb yelped and accidentally tripped over his own feet in panic. He scuttled backwards as Candy continued with his hands arched into claws and fake face twisted into an ugly snarl like a gargoyle. His ears twitched as if a charge of current zapped through the top of his endoskeleton’s head.

The guard managed to bump up against a wall and eeped in shock.

Candy leered down at him, “This is what happens when I show you some mercy. You think it’s okay to move in on anyone’s business- decide that everything should revolve around you.”

Caleb took this as a good chance to escape, dashing to his left and towards the west entrance into the security office. Candy Bon stomped close behind him, “You can’t run!”

He came back into his office to find a curious Mangled Law poking both of its heads at the desk.

Caleb pointed at the large doorway and shouted, “Get! Get out of here!”

Without wasting a second, the white haired head let out a soft shriek before the rest of it scurried away like a frightened dog.

He lunged for the left doorway’s button and slammed his hand down on it. The steel door behind him clamped shut and a thud was emitted from the other side.

Candy Bon hammered on the door with their strong fists, “You can’t hide from the truth! We know you’re game!”

“I’m sorry!” Caleb cried. “I’m sorry for- for whatever I did!”

A weak groaning sound from the opposite side of the room made Caleb flinch and turn to meet it. He saw Deathly Chic coming through the right doorway with eyes much like Candy’s.

The feminine robot spoke in a raspy voice that made it seem like her voice box was rusted. “We’re tired of the game. You just can’t live with the truth.”

She advanced towards him and Caleb took a step back, “You can’t live with the guilt.”

The walls ripped apart and dark, paper-like hands reached out of the cracks and grasping for him. They multiplied and unified into a field as the rest of the building melted away to reveal a burnt copper sky with inky black crows and ravens flying around him.

What had been Deathly Chic was now a mechanical automaton that approached him with her metallic body and smoldering red eyes.

Thick grey arms wrapped around Caleb’s chest and he was lifted up, squeaking in fright. He turned his head to see that it was a darker automaton with long fangs and had a striking resemblance to Candy Bon.

Caleb thrashed in its hold as a large number of scarecrows rose from the sea of lost hands like evil daisies. Each was had a mangled automaton that was worn and torn and each had a feature that made it different from the others. One was missing an eye, another had no legs, and one in the far back didn’t have any hands.

Deathly Chic’s figure vanished and was replaced by a large black shadow that slowly approached Caleb, holding up two large hands. It had two white pinpricks to indicate eyes and an odd shape at the top of it that reminded Caleb of a top hat.

“Ti Gold…?” he whimpered.

The shadows vanished around the figure and revealed almost exactly the opposite. If one were colorblind then they would say that it was the tall ghost, but this newer figure had a golden top hat with a black sash that read ‘IT’S YOU’ and dark blue hair. Their fake skin was midnight black and they had demonic red eyes, their dress shirt was a warm grey and the tips of their fingers were curved claws that looked to be dipped in molten silver.

It smiled and showed its neatly sharpened rows of teeth that looked to be at least seven inches long, each.

“Ahh ha ha ha…” the fake Ti Gold cackled. “You can’t handle the truth.” 

Caleb’s lips were moving but no sound came out as the other robots approached him, filling his field of vision.

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH

Everything went red, black, and white as more robots joined in to chant.

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH

Black fluid leaked from the corners of his eyes.

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH

The fake Ti Gold leaned closer, opening its large maw and revealing its glistening fangs.

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH

Its fangs were brought around Caleb’s upper cranium and closed shut.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGGHHH-!” Caleb screamed into the waking world.

Putting a shaking hand to his chest, Caleb discovered that he had passed out in the West Hall.

Metallic footsteps caught his attention as he braced himself for a rogue robot to come and slay him.

“Caleb!” it was Candy Bon. He looked almost worried; it was hard to tell with the fake skin on his metal endoskeleton.

“Candy?” he breathed.

“I had to lie to Carta and say that you were in the office, Deathly managed to put on a show to make it look like you were in there.” the purple-dressed robot helped Caleb up. “What did you see?”

“I-I-”

“Never mind, it’s best if you get back into the office. I don’t think Deathly can maintain the pressure for much longer.”

Candy Bon nearly shoved Caleb into the Security room and he saw Deathly Chic waving the company-owned flashlight around rather sloppily.

She looked at him, “Ah, there you are, I was wondering for how much longer I’d go without using the flat screen.”

“Flat screen?” he then saw the tablet lying in a disorganized fashion on the desk. The red timer warning was flashing.

Caleb screamed before lunging, aiming for the troubling device. He switched towards the Prize Corner’s feed and jabbed at the music box button. The lids tot eh giant present box snapped shut and a surprised wail could be heard from the next room over.

“That should do it!” he looked up but found that he was alone in the office. Candy Bon and Deathly Chic had left, as if they had never been there in the first place.

He was soon thrust back into his regular routine.

Once the clock struck seven he was sure that he was going to collapse right then and there and just let the morning staff carry him away. A coma did sound nice about now.

Something in his front jacket pocket poked at him and he sat up. Caleb searched his pocket and found a slightly-crumpled business card with Yaiba’s phone number on it.

A thought struck him. Maybe she knew a reason for Carta Fazbear and the other robots to attack at night? Maybe she could make sense of Ti Gold and her riddles?

Caleb stood up and walked out of the pizzeria before heading home. In the car, he pulled out his cell phone, “Hello…hi, it’s Caleb Squaire…yes I actually have a few questions…”

Five hours later he was sitting in Victory Park and waiting for the nurse intern. He had never stepped foot into the park before and thought that it would be a long drive but, to his surprise, he had arrived an hour early. Caleb was able to find a good spot but couldn’t help but feel worried if Yaiba were to recognize or even remember him.

“There you are,” the tan nurse’s voice made him look in her direction. Instead of her maroon scrubs from last time she was in more casual clothing that consisted of a white hoodie, red collared shirt, jeans, and purple sneakers. “How’s your back?”

“Much better now,” he shifted his seating on the bench. “I can’t wait to get my stitches removed.”

Yaiba sat down next to him, “At least you didn’t get staples.”

Caleb shuddered, “Yeah.”

“I take it that you didn’t call me for hospital talk though, but rather about your shift at Freddy’s.”

The guard sighed, “Yep. According to my contract, I’m not allowed to talk about what I do during business hours or what my job entails.”

“But you requested that I tell you the history of the location,” she swallowed. “Information that the company doesn’t wish to share.”

He leaned forward, “Then how do you know what you’re about to tell me?”

“I’ll get to that,” Yaiba looked up at the clear sky. “Sorry if I pause along the way, this is going to be a touchy subject.”

“Take your time.”

“Okay, I should say- that you should know that- Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria has anthromorphic characters that are displayed as animatronics for their different locations. Back in nineteen eighty-one the company decided to experiment with a smaller location that was in sisterhood with the current one, one that had human versions of the two current characters.

“I can’t remember their names but I doubt they were mentioned to me. The robots we see in the location you work at are based on the older designs, but they’re based off on actual people instead of the original characters.”

“People?”

Yaiba’s expression hardened, “Caleb, I want you to keep an open mind as I tell you this.”

She looked at him, “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria doesn’t have the cleanest record. Things turned sour after an event at a birthday party where a kid got shoved into the main animatronic’s mouth and died in the hospital shortly after. Then a former employee, it was hypothesized, managed to murder five children in the facility. The company then had to downsize and shut down different locations, making them appear like a Chuck E Cheese knock-off. One location down south has had a string of problems with missing people reports that trace back from the nineties and haven’t been solved since.”

The news spiraled around in Caleb’s head. He hadn’t been expecting such a vicious string of incidents associated with where he worked at (besides the obvious dangers that lay at night). Now hearing of the murders and missing person’s reports he was wishing that he had never seen that ad in the first place. Actually, Ti Gold’s mission was making a lot more sense.

“So you see,” Yaiba brought out a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. “The New Hampshire location should have never existed in the first place.”

“They had unexpected funding,” Caleb breathed.

Yaiba nodded, “Exactly. But where or how would they get the money? They started a ‘charity’ project.”

Things then began to piece together in his head as a look of horror crossed his face, “You’re kidding…”

“The project was themed to be dedicated after fourteen children who had passed away here in the U.S. It was approved, but the people who signed in on it thought it would be a memorial service for them. Once the models were out…people were appalled at what the company had done.”

She blew her nose, “Excuse me, it’s a sensitive subject.”

Caleb spared her and looked away, “It’s fine, really. I can understand.”

Yaiba brought out another tissue, “Thank you.”

Once she had calmed down, Yaiba continued, “As you could see, no one ever wanted to see the sad, resurrected versions of their children, so the company sent them to a cheap location here. Freddy Fazbear’s deleted the info of the charity project from their website and history and replaced it with a come-back of the first project they did back in the twentieth century.

“Unfortunately, that’s not the worst part. Most of the robots were ironically designed based as how the children died. For example, the balloon kid that nobody likes is supposed to look like Denise- she died from being carried away by a hot air balloon and caught hypothermia up in the air.”

This was so much worse.

Yaiba hugged herself, “One of them died from a bear attack and thus was given a hook and a feral look to match- she’s not performing anymore, to be honest. The only male robot, Candy’s his name I think, was based on a trans male child. I think they made fun of his name and gave him candy corn fangs and big ears, the nerve.”

Caleb’s vision or dream from last night sent a chill down his spine. That was real? That poor boy had died a bloody death just because of his gender?

“To be honest, I think the worst one was the puppet-thing,” Yaiba paused. “She had the worst design possible.”

‘Tell me about it,’ a sarcastic thought popped up in his mind.

“She…she didn’t die in a freak accident or anything, but- oh, I’ll just say it. She killed herself.”

“S-suicide?” Caleb gasped, unprepared for the news.

Yaiba nodded before tears flowed out of the corners of the eyes as she grabbed another tissue, “She hung herself.”

That…that was the worst…Caleb couldn’t see how such an act could go on without someone stepping up to call it out. For that poor child’s soul to see the robot wound up and repeating her death every day.

“T-that’s terrible.”

“I know,” Yaiba blew her nose again.

“But how do you know all of this?”

“Because my brothers and I were about to be in the same ‘charity’ event. We were in a bad accident and I was on the brink of death, so the company wanted to make a trio to represent us. I managed to survive but, my brothers didn’t. They had managed to make an endoskeleton of my character and suits for my brothers but they ran out of funding when I came back to full health so our counterparts were abandoned.”

“I’m sorry, I really am. Please forgive me.”

“Caleb,” she looked at him. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I came here willingly and even gave you my information beforehand; I wanted to get this information to you.”

She took his hands and held onto them gratefully, “You need to keep these facts in mind- this business that you’ve become a part of is nasty. Live on, keep moving forward. You have to be brave and see the horrible truth in front of you.”

Caleb nodded, “Thank you.”

“Now then,” she unhooked her hands and stood up. “I didn’t eat breakfast or have had lunch yet, wanna’ go get some pizza? It will be my treat.”

Caleb arrived at his job earlier than usual, a lot braver than he’d been ever since he’d first walked in. Tonight he knew what he was doing for once.

Before heading for the security office, Caleb made his way past the Parts and Services door and into the main cafeteria. The curtains were drawn over the three robots but Caleb knew where to find Carta Fazbear.

He stood in front of the stage, “I’m sorry for what happened to you and your gang, but this has gone on long enough. You can’t just blame everyone who works here as someone who wants to profit from your misfortunes.”

There was no response.

Caleb gave it another moment before we sighed and turned towards the west hallway to enter the security office.

He didn’t hear the soft chuckle from behind the thick purple curtains, “Oh dear boy, it’s not like that.”

The new guard sat down at his desk and set up his station for the night. Readying himself, he waited for the alarm to set off.

Ding-dong-dong-ding.

Ding-dong-dong-ding.

Yay!

The phone rang again and he instantly put it on speaker before picking up the charged tablet to check on the animatronics.

“H-hey! You m-made it! Wow, I-I was beginning- no, I-I mean that since y-you’ve been hear, uh, so long, the chance of you n-not surviving each night becomes h-higher you know?”

True, but that didn’t stop him from flashing the LED lights in X Bon’s ungrateful eyes.

“I don’t h-have any, uh, new news for y-you tonight, so just m-make sure everything goes alright. Oh! I-I do have this old newspaper clipping, b-but it’s so smudged that I can barely read it. I-” -some old paper crackled on the other end- “-I think it says so-something like ‘Diner Burns Down’ or something, I-I’ll try and t-translate it for you later. Goodnight!”

Friday again? No problem.

It was just another night where the colorful robots were on their highest A.I. setting. Calling it his ‘hardest’ nights would be too much of a stretch, for he hadn’t lived that long to give out the title.

Candy or Carta approaching the left door? Close it. Deathly or Carta approaching from the right? Close it.

Perry, Red, or Demi coming through the left vent? Flash it. X, Day, or Law coming through the right? Flash it.

Angel or Bloody coming down the hall? Flash it.

MM’s music box needed rewinding? Rewind it.

The shortened term for the puppet girl came to Caleb a week ago when he had a close call with her- resulting in him shouting something between ‘Mamalam-Marionet’ and ‘Maaaaalin-Maron’. This then led to a realization that he hadn’t wanted to ever hear one of the robots make a fool of himself again, thus shortening ‘Madeleine Marionette’ to the abbreviated term.

He sighed as the hours passed, not sure what to make of his new life. Caleb didn’t even know why he was doing Ti Gold’s dirty work either, just for the sweet release of freedom perhaps. If he gifted the ghost with what she was looking for then he could finally a way out of this dead-end job. He at least had enough hard-earned cash to donate towards his family.

Everything in this job was now like routine, except every night it got a little bit faster, more dangerous.

That’s why he jumped out of his seat when he saw the shadow in his office.

When he put down the tablet to check down the hallway he was startled at the sight of a tall black figure with glowing white accents. What he saw was exactly like the shadow in the Parts and Services room during his first week, except that this one was larger and standing up. It was around seven feet tall and shaped like an anthromorphic cat with wings and skull markings on its supposed face.

Caleb screamed in horror as he flung himself out of the wooden chair and landed flat on his butt onto the tiled floor. The figure near the large entree way was unfazed as it continued to stand there, its empty eye sockets staring him down.

There were old legends from across the world that seeing a bleached-white skull on a black background meant a doomed demise or death. Seeing it in real life was a one-in-a-million chance- no, billion. It was a grim reminder that his own demise would be coming soon.

Caleb gulped and backed away until his back hit the wall. He continued looking at the shady figure as it slowly melted away, fading out of existence.

The guard just continued to look frightened until he heard the familiar sound of metallic feet rushing towards the office.

He abruptly stood back up and lunged for his flashlight just in time to blast Bloody Foxy with a face full of light.

She halted and took careful steps back as she let out low howls of pain. Her run had caused the right side of her face to be exposed, her long, ratty hair flipped back. Caleb could now clearly see the damage done around her eye- the fake flesh had been torn away and exposed the bits and pieces of her endoskeleton that remained. It almost looked like a monstrous bear had gotten inside the establishment and sliced open Bloody’s face.

The ax-wielding robot swung its head from side to side, snarling, before charging again.

“No!” Caleb shouted before flickering the flashlight straight into her face. “Get back! Back I say!”

“Fine!” Bloody Foxy snapped and turned around to stomp back towards the end of the hall, but not before pushing a wandering X Bon onto the floor with her free hand.

Sensing the music box ticking away he found the tablet once again and flipped to the Prize Corner before the meter hit zero. A wandering hand was peeking out before the top of the box slammed shut. Caleb heard a shriek come from the next room over as the hand retreated back into the box.

Despite falling behind after the appearance of the shadow, Caleb was able to get back into the rhythm of his work.

Once the alarm rang Caleb yawned and stood up, knowing full well that he had a few hours before receiving a call from the manager (who would most likely be inspirited by Ti Gold) that he would have to work another shift.

Caleb did mind, very much. The Probability of him dying the next night went higher every time he survived another eight hours. If there was anything that he had learned from Calculus then it would be the likeliness of winning the lottery.

The guard sighed and walked out of the office, into the Main Hallway. Saturday brought him a whole day of relaxation and to catch up on chores he hadn’t completed throughout the week. Maybe he should also be using his extra time to dig up more research for the stubborn ghost.

He appeared in the secondary cafeteria when flashing lights in the arcade drew his attention. Caleb stopped and stared into the next room, hypnotized by the carnival lights and sounds that felt like they didn’t belong in the building of horrors.

Young Caleb Squaire approached the sight without thinking he was moving, as if he were floating.

What he found was the carousel for toddlers moving slowly on its own, with no one ridding on it. Each of the arcade games had black static on their screens and a saying o the middle five in the first row.

Caleb walked over to the second one in the line and read-

‘There is a Pot of Gold

Under every rainbow.’

Wasn’t the first cryptic message he had received.

He moved onto the next one, the one on the right-

‘Just because You can see them

Doesn’t mean They can’t see you.’

The middle one-

‘Every Story has a Beginning

But not always an Ending.’

The next-

‘The Saddest People

Smile the Brightest.’

The last in the series-

‘Those who Smile the Brightest

Often Cry the Hardest.’

Caleb took a steep back, trying to piece it all together.

“So I heard you’ve got some news for me…” a sly voice slithered from his left.

He turned to face Ti Gold in shock, watching the tall ghost lazily lying on top of the small contraption as it began to slow down. Her legs had melted into a hazy tail that made her look more ghost-like as her fake eyelids were closed and her expression was one of morning tiredness.

She lazily half-opened her eyes, “I heard of you visiting a young nurse for information…was it true?”

Caleb narrowed his eyes, “Yes, she was the same nurse who took care of me after MM attacked.”

“MM?” Ti Gold brightened at that and readjusted herself. “Is that who I think it is?”

Caleb felt his ears turn pink.

Ti Gold looked over at the Prize Corner and back at him before smirking, “Cute. Didn’t know you were a guy who gave out nicknames.”

Caleb growled, “Do you want the information or not?”

The tall ghost only laid flat on her back and giggled, allowing her tail to split in two and reform her legs that were now crossed, “Shoot, this should be interesting.”

He gave him a shortened version of what Yaiba had told him at the park. When he finished, Ti Gold had a look of deep thought on her face.

“That’s it?” she hummed. “Yaiba…I think I’ve heard of her before…”

“You know her?”

Ti Gold sat up before shifting into a black haze and appearing back into her regular form next to Caleb on the ground, “Never met her, or seen her for the matter, but she does have an addition here…along with her two brothers.”

Caleb took a sharp intake of breathe, “There’s more robots in here?!”

Ti Gold gave a low chuckle and patted Caleb’s head, “No, no, it’s only what you’ve seen coming and going into your office, plus me. There are no more robots straggling around, fear not.”

The sandy-haired guard then remembered something, something very disturbing, “What if-? What if Yaiba’s brothers weren’t robots?”

She gave a small smile, not catching on to what he was saying, before it finally clicked together in her dark head and her face fell in shock, “Oh…”

“I saw something sitting in the Parts and Services room, during my first week, and tonight, standing in the Security Office. Were they-?”

“No Caleb!” Ti Gold abruptly put her burnt hands on Caleb’s small shoulders, nearly dwarfing him with her larger figure. The white orbs in her eye sockets appeared, “There are no more spirits here! I would have sensed them!”

“But what if the spirits you’re trying to save have confused you?” Caleb spit back, trying to hide his growing fear. “With- what? Thirteen? -souls in the building, what if you couldn’t sense any others in the building? They would have been masked under the others’ presence!”

“DON’T SPEAK TO ME IN THAT TONE MISTER.” Ti Gold had opened her mouth so wide that it looked dislocated as shadows sizzled out of it and her voice boomed like it came from a loud speaker from a high school assembly.

Caleb paled in fright and felt like fainting, his heart was beating so fast that he thought it would burst out of his chest.

Ti Gold then realized her mistake and shrank into the darkness, the lights and sounds of the arcade fading away with her.

“W-wait!” Caleb reached out.

“Thank you for your time, I’ll see you next week.” a low voice echoed throughout the room but no source could be found.

It looked like he had another week of Carta and her gang after him.

He turned away from the carousel and went for the exit, but a white face hiding behind the large arcade machine at the end stopped him in his tracks.

Spotting her, Madeleine Marionette scampered back to her present box.

“Ah-!” Caleb jumped after the initial shock wore off. How much did she hear? Why was she out when he wasn’t on his shift? Why didn’t she attack? Was she going to report back to Carta?

On that note, Caleb turned to Demi Balloon Girl and glared at her- who stood unmoving and not fixated on him.

He quickly ran out of the building, trying to look like he wasn’t definitely escaping.

After having another Monday and Tuesday night full of escapades in the cold building, Caleb was free for the Christmas break. He took the customary hour-long drive to his parents’ house to spend the next three nights there with the rest of his family and close friends.

Sure, Caleb was an only child, but that hadn’t stopped his grandparents from having three children (one of which was his father). He had five cousins and eight nieces and nephews from his dad’s side of the family. Seeing that Caleb was only bachelor in the house, most of the kids were meant to be looked after him.

There was Daisy and Patrick from his eldest cousins, Carly, Charlie, and Chloe from his second eldest cousins, Marlow from his middle cousins, and Judy and Chase from his second youngest cousins. They were angels to look at but were actual devils when one got them riled up.

It didn’t help that he was the youngest cousin either.

So he lay in the center of the living room floor as all eight of the munchkins ran around him or tried to wrestle him away to play with them. The family dog, Martin, ran laps around the group and sometimes dove in to lick Caleb’s face.

In comparison, he was happy that the robots didn’t lick his face at the very least. Then yet, these nine charges of his didn’t want to murder him.

Caleb was just barely able to sit up and wipe the dog saliva off of his face with the edge of his hood’s sleeve before a white envelope was thrust into his face. He looked up to see his cousin, Shayla, smile at him.

“Hey, we feel sorry for you to be watching the little ones for another Christmas so we all pitched in for you to take them somewhere nice for a few hours.”

Caleb took the envelope as he shoved a foam bat out of his face, “Oh really?”

“Yeah,” she gestured to the rest of the adults in the kitchen. “We were going to invite some friends over soon; also the kids could use a breather.”

“Fine, okay,” Caleb nodded as he stood up. “I got it- leave it to me.”

Oh joy.

He was allowed the station wagon to transport the children around the town, searching for a kid-friendly place that the eight children would be happy with. What was on his mind was a nearby aquarium that had three stories high and a playground inside, but when he passed by it there was a sign that read ‘Closed due to leak from cold weather’ and he knew that he should have come with a plan B.

Then he decided to check out the zoo across town. He knew that they had special exhibits and entertainment during the winter holiday, plus it would be cute to see a few of the animals in their winter outfits to keep warm. Pulling into the parking lot his hopes dashed, there was a long line for the ticket booth.

Ignoring the cries of the children’s protests, Caleb sped away.

Plan C involved an amusement park but he doubted that his nieces and nephews could be trusted in a large area with many strangers. The next plan was to hang out at a mall nearby but then he’d be hassled by the children to buy them whatever their hearts desired and yanked in all different directions.

He went with Plan Z.

Caleb parked the station wagon into the parking lot of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. He made sure all of the kids piled out and counted heads before leading them through the front entrance.

The person at the gate wasn’t Marissa today but someone who looked like her.

“Hello,” he greeted, holding Marlow’s hand.

“Well howdy there, how may I help you today?” the woman behind the counter beamed in a lower tone than Marissa usually used.

“I have eight children here for the day,” he gestured behind him. “And I’m the guardian.”

“Oh good!” she wrote the information down in the notebook before selecting eight red wristbands and showing them to Caleb. “Alrighty, just make sure the young’uns keep this on during their visit and, if there’s any trouble, my name is Kaylee and I’m the guard on duty today.”

Caleb nodded to her before handing out the wristbands, “Thank you.”

He ushered the children into the smaller cafeteria and felt blessed to see that the band wasn’t performing yet. Finding a large space to seat nine people, Caleb made his group sit down.

“I want to play in the arcade! I saw it!” Chloe almost shouted at him.

“We’re going to play there later,” Caleb seated Chase. “First we’ll eat some pizza and see the show.”

“But I want to play now!”

Caleb sighed, “Not until you eat something, your moms will be angry at me if you come back without any food in you.” He didn’t want to use the child leashes his eldest cousin, Nathan, handed him before he left.

Chloe was about to scream but her sibling, Charlie, pulled her arm, “Shh! I wanna eat pizza!”

The server came over to them and gave them all a round of water before leaving. Caleb leaned over the table, “Hey what does everyone want on their pizza?”

Thirty minutes later, the nine of them were chowing down on three different pizzas full of cheese, pepperoni, pineapple, and ham. Caleb had his back to the stage as the three androids played; thankfully they didn’t recognize him and had been reprogrammed for the holidays to sing party carols. It had taken some time to quiet down his nieces and nephews but once the pizza was set onto the table everyone was happy.

Despite how cheap the company made their pizza, Caleb couldn’t say that he disliked it. Sure it was greasy and dribbled everywhere but it sure was tasty and made him want to come back for more. Sadly, the same couldn’t be said about his job.

After he paid the bill, he led his eight charges into the Arcade as they had wished before.

Caleb didn’t stick around this time, he stuck to the last time he visited the place during the day time and decided to make himself scarce. It was too risky to allow Demi Balloon Girl to see him when he wasn’t on his shift.

Quickly, he fairly handed out the tokens to the children before staying close to the pinball machines that hid him from the balloon vendor’s view. Then a thought struck him that he was going to be looking weird or out of place if he was just going to be standing there and minding his own business for the next hour or two. He didn’t want the day security after him and then he’d possibly get fired.

Caleb made sure that his nieces and nephews looked alright before he exited the large room. He made it into the secondary cafeteria before heading into the Main Hall, maybe Derek was on duty and he’d be allowed to hang out in the security office for a while.

The sandy-haired man came to a stop in front of the locked Parts and Services door.

He stared for a moment at it as some busy staff nudged him from behind as they carried out platters of pizza for a party in the main cafeteria. Something in the back of his mind nagged at him to remember something.

Suddenly the words that Angel Fazbear spoke to him during his fifth night on the job echoed in his head; ‘If you are indeed curious about this building’s past and how I was decommissioned, then you are welcome any time after your shift to come into the Parts and Services.’

He had time, but for what cost? Caleb didn’t even have the key to open up the forbidden door.

Feeling a little brave, he silently stepped up to the door and knocked softly, “Hey, it’s me: Caleb. I was invited by Angel Fazbear last month? Could I please come in?”

No response.

Caleb only huffed, feeling silly that he had gotten his hopes up. He had expected nothing and yet still had been disappointed.

As he turned away, a silent thud landed against his sneaker-clad foot. He looked down and saw a grease-stained bronze key on the floor.

His heart jumped as he bent down to pick it up and wipe off most the grease on the edge of his hood. He then proceeded to poke the key into the keyhole for the door and see if it worked.

There was a click and the door was unlocked. Caleb pulled away as the light from the hallway filtered into the dark room.

A screech made him jump, “Close the door! We’re tryin’ ta’ sleep here!”

“Get in Caleb,” Angel grunted from the floor. “Make sure you close the door behind you.”

He complied, making sure to shut the door behind him quietly in case any staff or customers had noticed him come in. There were no lights in the room but the LED optics of the ‘working’ robots in the room helped illuminate parts of the space for Caleb to maneuver around.

Caleb hopped over a pipe that was haphazardly sprawled in front of the blue tarp, “Excuse me, but, uh- is it really okay to be here?”

Day Chic shift over a bit in her spot to make room for the young man, “Of course, Angel invited you to come and listen.”

He shiftily sat down by Day Chic’s right leg and faced the fallen ringleader. Caleb tried to ignore how creepy Perry Bon wasn’t focusing on him with their red optics but looking across at the door. Bloody Foxy was just busy looking intimating towards him as she stood under the camera.

Angel Fazbear let out a shaky noise from their throat before sitting up slowly from her spot on the floor. Despite only having half of their body fully functioning, they were able to adjust their weight almost flawlessly and without sound.

They looked with their good eye at Caleb, “You came, and despite the evil intents Carta has forced us to follow through.”

Caleb nodded, “Yeah.”

“No doubt you’re wondering on why we’re forced to be in this room…rusting away the rest of our existence.” they paused for a moment. “Get comfortable Caleb, for there is much to tell about Carta Fazbear.”


	7. Change of Pace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parts and Services is kind of cold during the winter, but that doesn’t stop the active four who reside in there from retelling Caleb their tragic past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this one out quicker than I thought was possible. This one was easier to write in but now we’ve sadly lost four great characters. Don’t worry, they return in Part II.
> 
> [Warnings: Major Character Death.]

“The order to decommission us was only ordered a few hours before we were to be brought out to the public. It was the saddest news we had heard ever since we were brought online.”

Day Chic’s optics dimmed in sadness as she stared at the floor. Perry Bon’s head tilted away from the group, towards the dusty corner they were in. Bloody Foxy’s only eye closed as she leaned forward.

“We had arrived in working order to this building, finally awake in our own bodies and speaking like our creators had done to each other. Trust us, he were much better looking than this.”

Caleb looked at each of the four and tried to image what they could have looked like, originally. Day Chic would have had hands, a working back, hinged jaws, slightly closed eyes, and grace for whenever she walked towards a crying child to comfort them. Perry Bon would have had their face back, their arm reattached, non-shaky legs, a working voice box, and a cuddly personality whenever a child needed a hug. Bloody Foxy’s hair would have been pulled back to show her full face, the right side of her face repaired, both legs covered, no scrappy ax, and a friendlier face for older children to love. Angel Fazbear would have had the other half of her body in working order, the other half of her face un-paralyzed, nose unbroken, spine as tall as can be, and with a winning voice that would make anyone fall in love with them.

“We were a week younger than the Toy robots, two weeks younger than Carta’s original gang. Despite us having a great responsibility and treating them with kindness, we were met with hostility.

“Carta only took one look at us and decided to treat us as a threat; the Toys only followed suite shortly after. Candy Bon and Deathly Chic had graced us with kindness before, but once Carta had given the word they were forced to pay us no heed.”

Out of the corner of Caleb’s eye, he saw Bloody Foxy bare her teeth. What he didn’t see was Perry Bon quietly shudder in fear.

“We kept to ourselves after that, only interacting with the outside world when the test audiences came in.”

“Test audiences?”

Angel nodded, “Yes, before any of us were to be opened fully to the public, we were tested in groups to see how we were to behave with children and families. Results were high, we were a huge success.”

Day Chic crossed her arms, remembering of better times. Children flocking around her long figure and asking to play with her. Helping girls with long hair braid, allowing the boys to draw pictures with her.

“Once the results came back, we were ready to face a new life even if Carta was prepared to treat us as her bane. Then on the night before we were to be brought out to public audiences…”

“Carta Faz-Jerk attacked.” Bloody Foxy snarled.

Angel nodded with her eye closed, “Indeed. Using her suspicions of us being a threat, she ordered us to back down.”

“We didn’t take too kindly,” Day Chic continued. “We never followed her or her rules, so we stood up to her.”

“She snapped-her head literally snapped-and she started singin’.” the rusting pirate looked away. “Carta sang about love as she brutally ripped us apart.”

Day Chic nodded, “She told us she was only doing it because she cared about us.”

“We…” to everyone’s surprise, Perry Bon spoke up. “I…tried standing…up to her…”

Angel looked saddened, “Perry, you don’t have to speak about it.”

“I…must…” Perry Bon’s crater of a head swiveled towards Caleb. “After I was…thrown down…I tried to…take her on…she only…ripped my face off…”

Caleb paled, now hearing the story of how poor Perry Bon had become faceless, “I’m sorry.”

“There…is nothing to…forgive…” their rectangular optics dimmed as if they were closing their eyes.

“We were offline when they found us,” Angel continued. “Put us in the Parts and Services room hours before we were meant to serve, only coming online to seeing our conditions in this dark room, hearing the children laughing and playing outside.”

“Our one function snatched away from us,” Day Chic nearly whispered. “We then became nothing but metal and wires without a purpose.”

“No light…” Bloody Foxy clenched her fist. “No hope…”

“But then night fell and Carta came to us.” the half-paralyzed robot narrowed her eye. “She was nearly appalled to see us still in working order but offered us a condition.”

“Rid the…building of evil…or…never see the children again.”

Day Chic looked down at Caleb, “We didn’t want either option, but we were only a week old.”

“Aye, we just should ‘ave asked for death.”

“We had already lost our purpose, but we only wanted to regain what was lost.”

“Our greed…got…in the way…”

“Now we’re prisoners to Carta and her munchkin gang.”

“In a fit of anger one night,” Bloody Foxy lifted her ax. “I made this here and tried to take the behemoth down. Long story short- it didn’t end well.”

“Demi Balloon Girl,” Angel Fazbear nearly scoffed (Caleb wondered if that was possible). “One of Carta Fazbear’s most loyal followers, got in the way and was able to divert her attention while Carta came from behind and-”

“Gave me this,” she used her hook to pull back the hair in front of the right side of her face to show the torn fake skin and wrecked endoskeleton head with a barely blinking optic.

Angel nodded, “It was only a warning, but we received the message loud and clear.”

“So really Caleb, it’s our fault.” the blue haired robot said. “If we had declined Carta’s invitation then you wouldn’t be forced to face thirteen of us a week.”

“No no,” Caleb waved his hands. “I understand you four were young and worried about what was supposed to come to you. I can’t forgive you for all the times you’ve tried to drag me into here or when you’ve deliberately hurt me during my shift, but I now have a better understanding on as to why you’ve done it.”

“Don’t thank us, kiddo,” Bloody Foxy huffed as they let their hair fall back into place. “We’re only bound by an imaginary contract from that phony Carta, but now we’ve come so far that there’s no forgiveness for us.”

Caleb nodded, turning to Angel, “Then, do you know why Carta is crazy on ‘punishing’ the night guards?”

To his utter surprise, Angel shook their head, “Sadly, no. Carta Fazbear, Candy Bon, and Deathly Chic are the oldest ones with all of your answers, perhaps. I only have the knowledge of us and what came after, not before.”

“Sometimes it is just better to keep to ourselves,” Day let her jaw click. “The less we know the better.”

Caleb sat back, drinking it all in, “Then…Carta is just crazy?”

“Sadly, that’s the only conclusion.”

Silence fell over the darkened room as the heater was turned on. Perry Bon shifted in place and let a bolt roll off of them as Day Chic moved closer to her friend.

“It’s best if you leave now,” Angel announced. “Quite some time has passed and it would be a shame if you were to fall behind schedule. Take the key and lock the door behind you before sliding it back under the door please.”

The night guard nodded and stood up, stretching a bit, “Thank you, your information has been enlightening.”

“Just do us one thing, sport.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t die.”

Caleb couldn’t make such promises.

He did as Angel Fazbear had instructed. As Caleb finished sliding the key back inside, he stood up and went back to the arcade to collect the children.

The pizzeria was closed the next day. He spent the day before Christmas Eve with his family and helped make Christmas cookies the next day. Caleb had a fun time eating most of the cookie dough and sprinkles.

Christmas morning came and he was rudely woken up by the smelly St. Bernard.

He shoved Martin’s snout away from his face and coughed, “Gross.”

Martin barked in response before running out of the room and down the carpeted stairs.

It couldn’t be helped. Caleb got out of bed and went into the guest restroom to wipe the dog slobber off of his face before heading downstairs to see if anyone else was up.

Landing onto the first floor, Caleb saw that only a few of his cousins but all of his nieces and nephews were seated around the large fir tree in the center of the gathering room. The children were already ripping away at their gifts as his cousins were pouring red wine for each other and laughing in merriment.

He appeared in the room and was met with cheery greetings from Shayla, Parnick, and Megan.

“Hey Caleb!” Megan raised her glass to him.

“Need something to drink?” Parnick shook the wine bottle a little.

Caleb shakily laughed, “No thanks.” He was never a drinker, even if he was of age. Also, it was way too early in the morning to be consuming alcohol.

“Are any of the parents up yet?”

“No,” Megan shook her head. “Or maybe they’re pretending to be asleep.”

“Not for long,” Shayla nearly mumbled as the kids dropped their goods and swiftly ran back upstairs to wake up their grandparents.

Two hours later, and after a lot of freshly brewed coffee, the whole family was having a jolly good time. The children were now playing with their new toys, Martin was chewing on a new jumbo-sized bone that was bacon-scented, Caleb and his cousins were playing a card game and had the fruit juices out, and their parents were in the kitchen conversing and catching up with the grandparents. Someone had even raided the cookie tin and there were now sugary cookie crumbs all over the dirty carpet. The night fell and the eldest members of the family brought out the ham, turkey, yams, potatoes, and other hot foods for Christmas Dinner.

Everyone then went to sleep at later times. The children first collapsed from around nine as everyone else slowly drifted off into their rooms for sleep to claim them as well.

Caleb was among the few who stayed up late to watch reruns of The Office and eat whatever leftovers had been abandoned. In fact, the whole lot had decided to fall asleep around the couch as Caleb continued to stuff Turkey into his hungry mouth. His nightly job did have its advantages.

As it was a little past one in the morning, Caleb heard a quiet yawn come from the greeting room and stood up to investigate. He quickly gobbled down the last few bites of his slice of turkey before advancing slowly out of the room.

There was a bright blue light near the Christmas tree as Caleb neared the meeting room. He looked on in curiosity as shuffling noises were heard. Caleb suspected that one of the children had come downstairs to play some more with their new gizmos.

To his shock, there was a lean child that he did not recognize sitting in front of the large fir tree. She had long platinum blonde hair that flowed down her back and wore a spring time white dress.

“Excuse me,” Caleb quietly started. “How did you get in here?”

The girl slowly stood up and turned to face him. She had a long face, small mouth, and large doe-like eyes that shone like blue sapphires.

Caleb swore that he had seen eyes like those before.

“I’m just admiring the ornaments.” she spoke softly. “I used to have ornaments too, like Snoopy and Hello Kitty.”

“Do I know you?”

She shook her head, “Of course not, we’ve only just met.”

He noticed then that she was breathing rather hard.

“Do you live around here? I can take you home.”

She shook her head again, “I’m fine, I’ll be leaving soon. It was great to see that you have a lovely home life Caleb.”

The night guard took a step back in fright.

White lights gathered around her as she started to fade from existence.

“W-who are you?!?”

She softly smiled, “I forgot, but I always liked the name ‘Day’.”

Two weeks later, Caleb thought back to his encounter with Day with mild confusion. It was a little past one in January and seeing the time had reminded him to think back of his memories from Christmas break.

Tuesday night was always easy to get by, it was just trying not to fall asleep or freeze up from the cold weather. The building didn’t have any heating at night and thus caused Caleb to curl up in the wooden chair and shiver by also keeping the tablet close to his face for warmth. Any other warmth he could hope for came from the lighting in the room and the extra layers of clothes he put on.

Sensing Candy at his door again he stretched his left arm out to close the left door.

“Not letting up, huh?” a muffled voice came from the other side.

“You wish.”

Despite everything bloody and unforgivable that Carta Fazbear had done to that place, Caleb had grown fond of Candy Bon and Deathly Chic- they were the two most reasonable ‘bots despite being so close to the malevolent ringleader. The broken-down robots in the back were also good company, despite not giving him much of a break during his shift. Those Toys on the other end were another deal; Caleb hated how one-tracked minded they were and had fake-ish personalities in comparison to their original counterparts. Demi Balloon Girl was the biggest nuisance of them all, always frolicking away like it was nobody’s business, plus she took Carta’s orders gladly like a bar of chocolate. Then there was MM…who had yet to have a personality to be discovered by Caleb.

Ti Gold was the last inhabitant on his list that he had yet to make a complete review of. She was silly, insightful, cryptic, annoying, and terrifying so far, and he had a nagging suspicion that there was more to her story than met the eye. Sure her existence almost seemed impossible to Caleb, but after being introduced to bloodthirsty robots it was slightly bearable to process.

He hadn’t seen her in weeks after their last recorded meet up to exchange information. Even after giving her what she had wanted Ti Gold had continued to prolong his weeks. There were no cryptic messages, not even a note or a teasing laugh.

Something was very wrong.

And yet Caleb had no time to deal with the one who had brought him into this mess.

He reopened the door and continued through the night, flashing Bloody Foxy down with his flashlight again. Caleb then took the time to rewind the music box.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Too cold and quiet.

As the clock struck two, a sudden shift in the atmosphere changed.

The lights in the room flickered a few times as the old television sets in front of him came to life and their screens glowed a dull purple color. Then everything returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

Caleb sat still; a chill ran down his back as he felt something in the bowels of the building shift. Something sinister.

It came with a creaking noise to the right.

Caleb slammed the door, knowing full well that Deathly Chic would be there.

A thumping noise from the left vent held his attention- it sounded louder, ungraceful. It wasn’t Red Chic.

He swiftly picked the tablet back up and looked through the left vent’s camera to see an awkward Deathly Chic trying to maneuver herself through the small air shaft.

If Deathly Chic was there, then who was…?

Caleb opened the door and flashed the light, seeing Candy Bon on the other side before swiftly closing the door again.

This wasn’t right.

Deathly Chic managed to crawl into the office and Caleb instinctively put the Freddy head on to ward her away.

It didn’t work- she lunged at him.

Caleb managed to duck from Deathly’s swipe just in time, but his heart thudded loudly against the inside of his chest, “What are you doing?!”

She didn’t respond as she released the right door button to allow Candy Bon in. Candy entered the room and looked between Deathly Chic and Caleb before advancing, his eyes glowing black with tiny white pinpricks of white in the center.

“I-I don’t get it!” Caleb backed away as he heard something else bumping around in the right vent.

He edged around the left side of the desk to escape with the tablet in hand as Deathly Chic neared him, her eyes transforming to look like Candy’s.

Their advances didn’t stop there, for Red Chic stumbled out of the right vent without her face on again and stood up to walk calmly over to the guard.

Strong arms surrounded Caleb as he screamed in fright, fearing for Carta. It wasn’t the large robot, however, but her smaller-sized clone. If he could see her face then he would also notice that her eyes matched the other three robots in the room.

Then X Bon entered through the hallway ever so slowly and seemed to ripple the fabric of the space-time continuum, making everything around her go black.

Soon all of the mechanical menaces in the room turned white with crude face plastered on them. The strong arms holding Caleb up became white flames that burned him.

He continued to scream as the ghosts descended upon him with sinister shark-like teeth. They then erupted into black tears as the room became a flooded mess of oily black water.

“W-why won’t you save us? We’ve b-been begging for help f-for years!”

Caleb slammed the back of his head against the wall behind him when he woke up. He let out a groan of agony before blearily looking around the room in realization that it was just another nightmare.

The guard cursed before slamming his down upon the table. How dare his job exhaust him! He shouldn’t be having bad dreams with the monsters in them!

It was just then that Mangled Law poked her broken endoskeleton head in and let out a questioning cry of static before an X Bon action figure was thrown at her. She let out a squeak before scampering away.

Now throwing fits at the robots was not going to get him anywhere, but the terrible dream that he’d just had made him feel on edge. Anything that moved around him had become a potential target.

The fan? He looked at it as its rotors continued to move, supplying him with fresh air. Nah, it was the exception. That fan was relatively harmless in his opinion.

He looked back through his tablet to rewind the music box.

It was an hour later, after dodging android after android; he was beginning to tire again. He groaned in annoyance after Candy Bon left the left doorway and Bloody Foxy retreating nearer to the Parts and Services room.

Caleb yawned and stretched despite his better judgment. If he didn’t get back home soon then he was a dead man.

Back on the tablet, he heard Deathly Chic in the kitchen and saw Ice Bear in the arcade area without Demi Balloon Girl.

Wait. He blinked away any drowsiness in his eyes before looking back into the camera. It was only Wednesday morning and the balloon vendor was already out.

That also made a lot more sense after seeing Mangled Law appearing out of the entree way- Caleb had to mentally slap himself.

He heard something coming through the right air vent and put on the Freddy head to confuse X Bon, again.

What did stumble out of the airway was not X Bon. What rose up to their metallic feet was not X Bon. What slowly advanced towards him was not X Bon. Nor was any of it Day Chic, for the matter.

It was instead Angel Fazbear.

Thinking that this was another bad dream, Caleb shut his eyes and reopened them. Nothing had changed, Angel Fazbear blinked their one working eye at him warily. He tried again but was met with the same sight.

Soon the withered figure retreated and Caleb was able to take off the mask in confusion.

“It’s been a while since I had to do this,” a not-Candy-Bon voice drifted in from the left doorway.

Swiftly, Caleb flashed the left door light to reveal Deathly Chic coming closer and closer towards the office.

He slammed the door button down in fright and flashed the main hallway in front of him. Caleb saw Bloody Foxy enter one of the party rooms as Candy Bon approach the security office. The light made the purple-clad robot stumble a bit.

This couldn’t be happening.

Caleb made sure to flash Candy Bon a few more times before lifting the door back up to conserve power. He checked the party room where Bloody Foxy had entered and saw her ready to enter the left air vent.

With a grunt he switched back to the Arcade and saw not Ice Bear there but the all-too familiar LED lights that belonged to Carta Fazbear’s eyes. He flashed the light at the room and created eerie shadows against her face.

Just the sight alone made his body temperature drop around twenty degrees.

This was happening.

Suddenly it felt like it wasn’t Wednesday morning anymore but the beginning of his shift on Friday night. It was as if someone had opened a rift that changed the AIs on the robots so that they came on at different times and appeared at different locations.

A tiny figure appeared out of the darkness of the Main Hallway and Caleb saw that it was the rather bothersome Demi Balloon Girl. In fact, this must have been his first time seeing her appear before him- a lucky find.

“What do you want?” he yelled in desperation.

She only gave one of her annoying laughs before speaking, “Carta’s been getting a bit tired of you hanging around, so now she’s sent in the ‘Star Order’ to eradicate you.”

Now Caleb didn’t care about any fancy names the tall robot would give from time-to-time or the blood-thirsty orders she gave to her eager slaves. All he wanted to do was beat them all into next week.  

Starting with the balloon vendor in front of him.

He ducked to his right to pick up the silver waste basket before standing up and chucking it at Demi Balloon Girl. She was hit with a dull ‘thud’ and was knocked backwards, making her roll away on her side and into the darkness.

A sudden flashing on the tablet made him turn his attention to it. The red triangle in the corner of it made him raise his eyebrows in alarm. He forgot to wind the music box!

Caleb dove for it and pressed the rewind button on the player for the Prize Corner but the usual music didn’t come back on. He flashed the light and found the box open and the cables above it dangling.

The haunting sound of ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ played inside of the building as Caleb readied himself for his darkest fear to eat his soul alive tonight.

But nothing five foot tall and dressed in black ran down the hall at him. There were no glowing white lights in odd shapes approaching him.

The tune didn’t come down the hallway, but rather edged towards the left wing of the building and down the Left Hallway.

It stopped abruptly outside the left door as a three-fingered claw grasped the iron doorframe as MM appeared.

She cackled; her LEDs twinkling in delight “Didn’t see me coming, eh?”

Caleb dove for the door switch to shut her out but she was quicker than he had once thought. MM snaked around him with her slick body and grasped his wrist with her opposite hand. Despite her size and figure, she had proved yet again to be incredibly strong. Caleb groaned in pain as he flinched away from the button.

MM moved closer to his face, her circular eyes looking deep into his soul, “I got you again!”

Memories flashed through his mind of when his mom took him to a carnival growing up and they had visited the Clown Corner. There was one clown that wore black, purple, and white clothes and had died his hair red that had come up Caleb to help apply face paint. Everything became a blur as laughter rang out as terrible shrieks of torture and the ugly colors everywhere swirled together to make even more hideous creations. The smell of non-toxic face paint was still fresh in his mind as he remembered his horrid reflection after the clown was done with him.

Now a very familiar face was staring back at him with shining eyes and predator teeth that gleamed out of an unseen darkness.

He screamed and punched her square in the face with his free hand. Her hold loosened on his other arm and he was able to run away from the monochrome menace.

She let out a loud growl that made a sneaking Perry Bon hiding in the right doorway edge away, “That was very rude!”

Caleb, meanwhile, was in on another one of his famous chases through the hallways of the building. This time, however, Caleb didn’t make plans to leave the building immediately. He dove for the Parts and Services door after running under a wild swing from Deathly Chic.

To his surprise, Angel Fazbear was lying on the floor and would looked ready to be dozing off if they were an actual human being. He slammed the door behind him and the withered robot on the floor looked up.

“You again?”

“Not now,” Caleb turned the lock on the door before walking backwards. “Everything’s gone out of control- they’re too active and they’re not appearing in their normal places!”

They lifted themselves off the floor, “Then why bother coming in here? It’s not like I’m going to protect you.”

He turned to them, “If you wanted to stuff me you couldn’t, your left side is the only functional part of your entire body.”

They blinked, “Fair point.”

A great pounding noise fell onto the door, “Open up! I at least want to get some shut-eye!”

It was Bloody Foxy. Despite her torn appearance and light build her knocks had quite the power to make the room reverberate.

Angel turned to Caleb, “You open that door; a whole flood is going to leak in here.”

Caleb wasn’t sure if they were actually concerned about him or the fact that twelve extra robots couldn’t fit inside this room.

Bloody Foxy knocked again, “Caleb I swear to King Neptune that if you don’t open this here door real soon then Captain Carta is going to tear it down and dunk ye’ head-first into my fuzzy doppelganger’s suit.”

Now the Parts and Services room was rather small and there were few places for him to hide, despite his size. If he opened the door then there would be a slim chance that he could surpass the crowd of robots and exit the building without harm. Then there was the slight chance that he could hide in this very room and wait until the bell chimed or until Carta found him. Last chance he could hope for was Ti Gold to suddenly reappear and save his butt.

None of those had much of a high possibility of working out.

He eyed the large thing near the corner that was covered with the dusty blue tarp. Trying to hide under that would be a good idea; barely anyone would dare notice a difference. It had been there, untouched, since the first night he began his shift. Whatever was under there probably had been sitting untouched since the restaurant had opened up.

The guard looked under the tarp and was surprised to see a thicker, khaki colored blanket under it- hiding whatever artifact there was from view.

Angel Fazbear looked over his shoulder, “Hiding? That’s going to be tough.”

“Do you know what’s under here?” he turned to her.

They made an uneven motion with their shoulders, “I don’t know it was there when we first arrived and only had one coat of dust. We didn’t want to disturb it so it’s just been there. None of the employees will touch it either.”

A sudden knowing that was harder than Bloody Foxy’s then appeared, “Mr. Caleb Squaire, if you don’t open this door in the next two minutes then I’m going to have to break it down.”

It was Carta Fazbear- his time was up.

Angel looked at him, “Boy, I’m going to have to open the door before she starts counting down. I don’t want there to be no door during the daytime for the kids to see us.”

Caleb frowned, “Not funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be.”

He paced for a few seconds before coming up with a solution, “I got it!”

Caleb then proceeded to rummage around in one of the broken cardboard boxes in one of the corners, “If I can just-”

“One more minute Caleb.”

He gulped before continuing, “I just need to find something that can disguise myself well.”

The guard pulled out a bowtie and a red vest that looked about his size, if not a few above. He swiftly pulled his jacket off and put the vest over himself and pinned the bowtie onto his shirt underneath. Diving back into the box, he found a small top hat with a blue ribbon tied around it.

Caleb finished putting together his outfit and turned to Angel Fazbear with a nervous smiled on his face.

They looked at him with an unchanging face, “That’s not going to work.”

Tears escaped the corners of his eyes, “You think?”

“Thirty seconds.”

He gulped before digging into his pockets, trying to find his last resort. There- he found a ballpoint pen that he had stuffed into his left front pocket earlier.

Caleb uncapped it and began to draw lines around his arms and wrists to make it look like he had artificial arms like Deathly and Red Chic’s. He then went to a large mirror on the wall near the metallic shelf full of endoskeleton parts and looked at his reflection, drawing lines on his face to make it look like he had a mechanical mouth and retractable face plates.

Angel Fazbear shook their head, “I’m opening the door.”

Caleb only had little time to put the pen back and adjust himself to make him look presentable and brand new. He turned away from the mirror as Angel unlocked the door once Carta began counting down from ten. The counting stopped when Angel slowly opened the door and Caleb stood still, trying to get in character.

Carta Fazbear looked down at her youngest doppelganger, “Well, is he here?”

Angel just looked at her and moved aside to let the ringleader through.

She came in and looked around the room like the predator she was before her optics landed on Caleb. Carta frowned, “I was not made aware that we were going to have a new addition.”

Caleb did his best not to sweat or flinch but instead angled his head in Carta’s direction, unspeaking.

Angel Fazbear’s eye widened in mild shock before they looked back up at Carta, “I barely even noticed them.”

Carta Fazbear then frowned in Angel’s direction, the look on her face alone could have burned the broken robot into ashes but it held little affect over them. “He’s wearing bright primary colors and looks freshly delivered.”

Angel just made the same uneven movements with their shoulders.

A sound escaped from Carta’s fake lips as she looked back to Caleb, “You! What is your name and purpose?”

Caleb moved his mouth mechanically and tried his best to sound as robotic as possible, “Mr. Square. I teach kids about math.”

“Mister?!” Candy Bon’s head shot out behind Carta Fazbear and he moved in to get a closer look. “Another guy? Oh joy!”

Deathly Chic appeared behind her partner, looking a bit suspicious, “But why a math attraction? I don’t think a child would come here for mouth.”

“Silence,” Carta brushed a large hand aside for her two partners to be quiet. “If he was brought here to fulfill that purpose then let us leave as he be- for now.”

She looked him up and down, her frown diminishing, “Good luck with the Test Audience, and just don’t get any ideas with anyone.”

Caleb remained unresponsive, not knowing what to do. If he blew it now then he was so going to get more than just a simple shove into an empty animatronic suit.

Angel Fazbear just grumbled and sat down on the floor, “If you don’t mind, I would like to go back to sleep.”

The large ringleader only turned around, ignoring them, “Well, if our guard isn’t in here then that means that I was lied to.”

Caleb heard Bloody Foxy growl in the hallway, “I swear that ‘aye saw ‘im go in thar!”

“Now now, you know what happened last time you lied to me.” dark chuckling met his ears.

“Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. It was you who led us here to maybe allow him to escape.”

“He did run that a‘way!”

“No excuses.”

There was then a large screech that sounded as metal was pulled and ripped and someone screaming in pain. Caleb ground his teeth in fright.

Angel had their head bowed in shame as the static screams continued. Deathly Chic and Candy bon left, their expressions shaded and hard to read.

He stood still as Angel mumbled, “If you want to leave then now would be the time.”

Caleb nodded and took careful steps away from his spot, his steps shaky. The sandy-haired guard approached the unlocked door and took a peek outside.

He instantly regretted it. Bloody Foxy was on the floor, both of her arms ripped out and parts of her exo-suit had been torn off of her metallic body. Carta took a swipe at her and managed to throw her into the wall, making screws fall out of her. Mangled Law hovered in the shadows, whimpering.

Caleb averted his gaze as Carta Fazbear’s back was turned, he moved in the opposite direction and tried to act like the android that Carta and the rest thought him to be. Moving one foot in front of the other, Caleb was able to exit the hallway and make it into the secondary cafeteria.

Red Chic was onstage without her eyes on and looked at him. Caleb in turn stared back at her, trying to not look too suspicious since he was frightened beyond belief.

She tilted her head before looking away. Caleb stood in character just a little bit longer before moving on towards the front entrance. Right, he had to act like a curious robot for this to work.

The sun hadn’t risen yet on this dreary winter morning, nor would it rise for another four or five hours. Light wouldn’t be able to breach through the clouds and create moody colors that very hypnotic to stare at. Sadly, due to the city lights, no one could make out a vast number of stars in the sky.

He took the time to stare outside; he didn’t know if he was actually wowed by the sight of the sky or just in character. Caleb found that the colors of early dawn were his favorite. One time he saw someone with burnt purple and shimmering yellow hair when he was nineteen and had stared at their iridescent hair for a long period of time.

Candy Bon stood next to him, “Amazing, isn’t it?”

Caleb nearly jumped in fright, whipping his head around and blinking at the robot who was only a few inches taller than him.

Candy chuckled, looking down at him, “I’ve always wondered what’s outside of here, you know. We’re locked in here and Carta won’t let us leave either way- so all he have here is a nice view of what’s outside.”

The disguised guard slowly spoke, “Yes. Why leave?”

“It gets boring after some time,” Candy said simply. “Sure, it seems pretty great the first week, but then you realize that this place is too small for all of us.”

He resisted the urge to gulp, “Sure.”

“You got it,” Candy awkwardly winked at him. “Bro.”

Caleb wasn’t sure how to feel about this so he only gave the robot a blank stare.

Candy gave out a glitched sound that came out like a laugh, “It’s so refreshing to finally have another guy on the team! I look forward to working with you.”

Caleb wasn’t so sure but he gave a short nod instead.

Candy Bon only left him alone and walked away, “I’ll leave you to it, sorry you had to witness Bloody Foxy getting plummeted like that- Carta will fill you in about it later.”

Once Candy was out of the room, Caleb internally counted to ten before approaching the doors and windows at a slow pace. He looked outside again and saw a car pass by.

Maybe the person in the car saw him, or maybe not. It didn’t really matter to him anymore. That person may not have noticed this unholy place and have kept driving at their own pace or had somehow glanced in his direction but didn’t know the horrors that lay within and continued on. At one point he was that person, but now he could never return to his simple life of bliss- where one didn’t believe in the paranormal or overly zealous robots hell-bent on killing for a twisted cause.

Caleb repressed a stressed sigh as he realized that leaving now would mean that he would have to leave his belongings behind and fetch them later. He slipped his hand into his front right pocket and pulled out his key ring to swiftly jam the front door key into the front door. The guard was able to open the door and take the keys out before locking up the entrance.

It was as if the events that night hadn’t happened. As if he wasn’t an oddly-dressed leaving for his car. There was no Ti Gold to stop him and he didn’t feel bad for betraying the stupid trust of Angel Fazbear, Bloody Foxy, Candy Bon, and any others who were affected by him. He just numbly unlocked his car, got in, started it, locked the doors, and drove away.

Caleb did drive back to his house and got some shut-eye, setting his alarm for seven so he could get his stuff back and then return for more sleep.

When Caleb did return to the office, there was an unhappy present waiting for him.

Bloody Foxy sat in the wooden chair, in front of the desk, and stared at him with dull, crimson eyes. She was nothing more than a metallic skeleton with only pieces of her fake skin still attached to her frame and her now-raggedy clothes only hung onto her. It appeared as if she were to sneeze then she would collapse like a crumbling building.

Caleb stopped in time to take in the horrifying sight as Bloody Foxy didn’t say anything. Silence was heavy and thick in the room as the two stared at one another.

“Well?” she finally rasped. “Like…what you see?”

He didn’t respond.

She let out a huffing noise before adjusting her position, “You really pulled a big one on all of us. Carta was royally livid after she found out that your character, ‘Mr. Square’, had left the building.”

Caleb noticed that she wasn’t using her pirate accent.

“Candy was pretty upset too. He thought that he’d finally found a pal, another guy friend. Instead he was betrayed by the trust he had put into you and almost looked like he was going to faint or short-circuit. Heh.”

A tooth fell out of her mouth, a golden fang.

“Then Day and Perry both dragged me back into Parts and Services. Not my greatest moment, not even when Carta refused to look at me- she never apologizes. Angel wouldn’t even look at me, nor speak to me, before she offlined herself.”

She let out a shaky huff of hot air.

“There’s no doubt about it- your actions have completely destroyed us.”

Bloody Foxy then stood up, “Pack your things up, it was nice knowing you.”

She slowly limped her way away from the chair and past Caleb. He watched her go before asking, “Wait, why- or where, what’s happening?”

The torn pirate let out a sound that reminded him of gears grinding but her facial features and frame made it look like she was letting out her trademark bark-like laughter, “Oh boy! Carta’s thrashing got me so good that I’m no longer useful to the establishment. Congratulations Caleb! I’m being fully decommissioned.”

Realization hit Caleb cold and hard: he had murdered her.

Her voice box let out a wheezy cough and made her short-circuit for a moment, “Eugh…I hope you’re happy that you won’t be seeing me nor Angel anymore, because your nights just got a whole lot easier. Maybe you’ll make some money…that’s what you came here for wasn’t it.”

The mangled voice box finally broke down and produced steam. Her jaw broke from the pressure and slackened from its placement. She gave one last wheezing laugh before limping back to her den in Parts and Services.

Caleb sighed, frightened and saddened by the encounter. It took him a moment to gather himself and search for the belongings that he left behind at his desk earlier. He found that some of the papers and files had been searched through since the last time he sat down as he found his pack.

The guard then remembered that he had left his hat and jacket in Parts and Services. He cursed under his breathe before slinging the pack over his shoulder and followed Bloody Foxy.

Caleb silently opened the door and peeked inside, “Hey, sorry to intrude, but I left my jacket and hat in here.”

Day Chic’s voice came out in a dull tone, “Take them and leave.”

He opened it up fully and stepped inside. The sight of seeing a completely collapsed Bloody Foxy and still Angel Fazbear looked too out of place for him while Day Chic and Perry Bon were in there usual spots like the drones they were supposed to be.

Caleb found his jacket and hat near the cardboard box he had rummaged around and tucked them under one of his arms. He turned to leave but jumped in surprise at the black oddly-shaped figure in the doorway.

Perry Bon had somehow stood up without him knowing and had come to block the doorway. Their red eyes were off and gave off a sense of soullessness.

“Are you happy?” their voice was deep and intimidating, creating frightening vibrations from within the room.

Caleb took a step back; he couldn’t see that Day Chic had her eyelids closed.

“You’ve taken away two dear friends of ours away in just one night. Do you think that even though we don’t serve our purpose no longer that we’re only here at your disposal?”

“I-I-” Caleb stuttered. “I’m sorry I just wanted to leave here alive.”

“Listen.” they cut him off. “I don’t know you and you don’t know me. Let’s keep it at that. Just get out of here and make sure you don’t hurt us anymore.”

With that, Perry walked back to their place and sat down in their designated spot.

Caleb didn’t know how to respond to this as he slowly edged out of the room. The effects of guilt were starting to slowly creep into him, making him hunch over and try to hide away from the world.

He kneeled down next to Angel Fazbear, “I’m sorry about all of this.”

They didn’t respond. Little did he know, the halved robot had preemptively snapped their neck an had shut down their processing unit. They had purposefully escaped Carta’s wrath before she could destroy them in a more unpleasant way.

Caleb stood back up and exited the building.

That morning he received a call that he was going to be spending the rest of his shift until Valentine’s Day. He had a feeling that Ti Gold hadn’t arranged that.

Everything then became covered in a shade of grey. He could barely hear the outside world nor taste his food. Something kept on eating away at his mind, telling him that last night was only the tip of the iceberg.

Caleb found out what it was on his next night’s shift when the Phone Girl gave him his nightly message.

“Hey…I heard from management t-that two of the robots from P-Parts and Services don’t, uh, work anymore.”

Two? Perry had mentioned two friends- weren’t they Bloody Foxy and Candy Bon?

“T-they saw the state of that pirate android- Bloody Foxy. Darn…she was a good one…it would have been great to see her perform…

“A-anyway, they hauled her off to the company’s storage facility, along with the, uh, other one- Angel Fazbear. Both are too ruined and t-their processors aren’t in any working condition. Yeah…” 

Angel Fazbear wasn’t working anymore? But they had helped him hide from Carta and the rest last night. Had he-

“I dug around through both of their paperwork-” paper ruffled on the other end, “-and, as it, uh, t-turned out, Bloody Foxy was only a Beta version for the pair now known as Mangled Law. Her real name was still on the drawing board before she was supposed to be introduced to e-everyone.

“A-apparently the most well-liked name was Mary, they wanted to change it to that because they, uh, thought that Bloody Foxy was too violent for kids today.

“Then, erhm-” more rustling, “-her ‘crewmates’ were supposed to be known as ‘Ship’ and ‘Wave’ before t-the children morphed her into Mangled Law. So…none of the family really did have a nice ending…”

Caleb watched the cameras, trying to be disinterested in what she had to say.

“So…I guess that’s it for now. Have a good night.”

The phone clicked off and his shift began anew.

Everything was quiet once again as he saw no new movement on the cameras, but he kept looking at the stages just in case. He knew that they wouldn’t be letting him go tonight.

The lights in the room flickered off and only his tablet was a source of light from within the room. Then the empty television sets sprung to life with static squiggling across their large screens, the light from the screens bouncing off of seemingly invisible forms that stood a few yards away from his desk.

There were four of them, each a different height and shape. Caleb scrambled backwards in his chair, frightened at the sight.

The TVs then snapped off but the forms materialized, glowing a soft white light. Caleb squinted as he saw that they weren’t completely solid but that he could see slightly through them.

Each was a black shadow with white markings. The one on the far right was the tallest with markings on their chest to indicate their ribs as the marks for their eyes and mouth were saddened. Then to the far right was the second tallest with deep scratch marks on the right side of their face and shoulders, their right eye was a huge, clawed, hole and the remainder of their face was slightly sad. On the right of the tallest was the second smallest of the bunch and had an odd number of deep white lines ingrained into them as their face was one of pure shock, their mouth wide open. The last one, on the left of the farthest right one, was the smallest and had their eyes scratched out and their mouth was drooped in despair and pain.

They stayed standing there for a moment longer before their shaded forms disintegrated and showed human children that were made from their outlines.

Caleb recognized the tallest, “Day?”

She smiled up at him, “Hi again Caleb.”

The tiny girl next to her held Day’s hand. He observed that she had a square-shaped face, red hair, and the rare case of Alexandria’s Genesis where she had brilliant purple eyes.

Day’s friend blinked up at him as he saw the girl on the farthest right speak up, “Let’s cut to the chase. My name is Mary and these are my partners, Day, Perry, and Angel, but you might know us by the robots with similar namesakes.”

Caleb gulped as he stood up, “H-how? Why? You guys are back?”

Despite being less than four feet tall, she was able to look and sound intimidating once she had floated up to eye-level towards Caleb. She crossed her arms and gave him a stern look, “Angel wasn’t freed from her prison until she made herself break apart and I wasn’t able to come out until my robot had powered down all the way. You helped us.”

Unhooking her hand from Perry’s, Day floated up next to him, “Despite being a huge jerk.”

He rubbed a hand behind his head and backed away, “You’re…right. I have been a fool, bumbling about-”

“But now is not the time for that,” the small child known as Angel stepped forward and folded her arms behind her back. “You may remember that this is still another night for you to survive?”

Caleb picked up the tablet and looked around the building; sadly all the cameras were disabled. In a panic, he closed both of the doors.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Perry said from down below.

Day nodded, “Yeah, our presence prevents the use of any electronic device. But I would tell you that you should step outside your office.”

If it weren’t for the fact that he was conversing with four ghosts he would have told them that they had all gone mad, “What for?”

“Thanks to you, there’s a way for the rest of them to free themselves of this prison we forced onto ourselves,” Angel went on, standing closer to Mary. “It’s time you’ve shared this with the others and also freed them.”

The tall bushy-haired red head nodded, flashing a toothy smile, “Yeah, despite all of the pain you kind of did to us, we kind of deserved it. We’ll help you repay the debt by giving you some advice: step out of the office tonight and visit the others.”

Day floated back down to hold Perry’s hand, “You’ll really regret it if you don’t.”

The smaller child nodded, “Indeed, this is our farewell present too.”

Their forms began to shimmer out of existence as Caleb stared in awe and wonder, “What do you mean? Where are you guys going?”

“Somewhere…better,” Mary stated before floating off. “Somewhere where we can rest easily now.”

Perry floated off with Day, each waving goodbye to him. He waved back.

Angel was the last one, “Well, you were entertaining while it lasted. Maybe I’ll see you later.”

She floated off, “Now step into the Main Hallway, dear Caleb. There are some people who would like to talk with you.”


	8. Part of a Whole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Caleb’s final weeks begin to take event he discovers that Ti Gold must have been telling the truth. How far is Caleb willing to go down the rabbit hole?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re almost done! I’ve waited such a long time to write the final chapters and now we’re here!
> 
> [Warnings: Death Mentions.]

They say that your life flashes in front of your eyes before you die.

In Caleb’s opinion, that was just dumb.

His life didn’t flash anywhere as he walked around the desk and approached the darkness. It felt like he was in a dream as the darkness swallowed him, the only sounds were his own breathing and his footsteps.

The darkness uncovered a light in the distance that glowed a soft orange with warm yellow undertones. What was supposed to be the Main Hallway transformed into a stage area fit for one person to perform.

The golden yellow curtains behind the stage shimmered into existence as a large rose-colored hand appeared between the sheets and allowed the rest of its form through.

Caleb gasped at what he saw.

Seven feet tall with midnight black pants, bowie, and shoes, a clean, steam-pressed, white dress shirt with ruffles at the front, a warm yellow vest with twin tails, and a regal top hat that Caleb would recognize anywhere.

“Ti Gold?”

The tall figure chuckled as her long golden locks flowed beautifully down her back and she opened her eyes to show her brilliant optics with golden-white irises, “Been a while, hasn’t it?”

Caleb gave a dull laugh as she stepped out onto the stage, “What is the meaning on this?”

“I just warped reality to speak with you,” she stated coolly. “Don’t worry, I was able to do this many times before and you’ll be able to come back to your office in time for another shift.

“Though…” she raised her un-charred hands up to look at them. “I’ve never been able to create an illusion so powerful that I revert back into my mortal frame.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, knowing that she was a ghost hat was made from an old robotic version of her. In confusion, he still didn’t understand how a piece of metal could attain a consciousness or spirit so powerful.

She put her hands down to look back at him, “So I was alerted by the ghosts of Angela and Mary that their destruction is what caused them to escape, so I helped them free their friends Day and Perry.”

“If it worked then you could free the others right now.”

A dark look came over her face despite her bright surroundings, “That’s what I thought some time ago as well, but I didn’t tell the poor children that after I freed Day and Perry. You see, it’s not the destruction of one’s body or physical form that causes them to free themselves from their chains but something called the Realization of the Soul.”

Caleb adjusted himself, “What does that mean?”

“It’s a term that I invented where one faces a great epiphany about one’s self and they’re able to move forward,” Ti Gold rubbed her wrists. “Mary realized some time ago that there is no good that comes out of revenge and thus her soul loosened itself from the physical body. Mary herself didn’t know that she was free until Bloody Foxy’s body broke down. Her soul then found Angel’s spirit hovering over Angel Fazbear’s body and the two somehow found me returning through the front doors, back from a vacation in Tahiti.

“From there I helped them get Day and Perry out of Day Chic and Perry Bon and they gathered to tell you how to free the others. Their pleading wasn’t in vain, for they truly think that we two can free the rest.”

Ti Gold finished and snapped two of her fingers together, causing four TV screens to silently descend from above and hover in place for Caleb to see. Each crackled to life and showed a headshot of Mary, Angel, Day, and Perry.

“Your work here is what made these four come to me and realize that I’ve been doing it all wrong. Instead of going straight for the spirit, I should have worked with the physical bodies- the wondrous AI within them.”

Caleb couldn’t believe it, “Then that would mean you could have just approached the robots months ago. I didn‘t have to be pulled into this.”

If Ti Gold could sweat she could as she side-glanced to a spot of darkness near Caleb that looked much more interesting, “Yes…a mistake on my part in which I was too foolish to consider. I’ve made so many mistakes during my time here and from beforehand. It’s time to take your position to the next level and stop any more blood spillage. I’m counting on you now.”

Darkness swirled around the stage as the TVs disappeared and the scene before Caleb began to shrink further and further into the void.

“I will maybe see you again,” Ti Gold smiled as their optics dimmed back to their soulless black eyes and her appeared once again became burnt.

Then Caleb was left alone to stand in the solid void. Heading Ti Gold’s earlier advice, he turned around to head back towards the office. Surprisingly, there was a light at the far end that looked almost too familiar for him.

He ran towards the light at the end of the square-shaped tunnel until he let it envelope him. The light was so bright that Caleb had to shut his eyes with a grunt.

When he opened them he saw that he had run straight through the front entrance of the Security Office.

He sat back down in the chair and checked the time; it was half-past Midnight.

The guard grinned as he picked the tablet back up, it was high time he completed this week for his paycheck.

He switched to the Prize Corner’s camera feed to wind the music box (which was somehow only drained by a quarter of its original percent) when some soft thumping in the right vent caught his attention. Caleb switched to the right vent’s camera and saw Red Chic without her face on, as usual.

He smirked before flickering the light on in the air vent before hearing a light footstep in the left doorway.

Caleb slammed his fist upon the left door button and closed it off for any robots.

Deathly Chic’s voice sounded from the other side, “Back at it again?”

“You bet.”

The rest of the night was full of mistakes in planning but he vastly improved on countering off the robots. True, now that he had released the Withered group of Day Chic, Perry Bon, Angel Fazbear, and Bloody Foxy he didn’t have as many robots breathing down his neck, but that didn’t stop the others from upping the ante into the nightly routine.

It didn’t matter if Ice Bear was at the right door or if Carta Fazbear thought that it was a good idea to climb into the left vent. Caleb was ready to move forward and tackle any obstacle that came into his way.

Demi Balloon Girl would come close to the left door or Mangled Law would try swinging in through the opposite door. Deathly Chic would try through the right vent as Candy Bon was in one of the party rooms giving the cameras his full face. Carta Fazbear would stay in the back of the secondary cafeteria and hide in the dark as the music box slowly drained away.

He dodged their prying looks with the Freddy head and scared them away with the bright lights that burned into their LEDs. The iron doors would shut if the monsters on the other side even thought about approaching further.

His determination through the night could not be shaken as he made it to one-thirty, two-thirty, three-thirty…

Then the alarm for seven o’clock rung and he was free.

Once Caleb returned to his Thursday and Friday night shifts he kept going with the same audacity that he met them with on Wednesday night. So that was why he slept almost all of Saturday away as he laid under his thick sheets to drive away the cold.

Sunday was when he got back to work on Ti Gold’s little ‘project’ of befriending the deathly robots. He knew that he only had until Valentine’s Day to figure something out, which gave him four weeks to at least make the more reasonable robots turn on Carta and make her realize her mistakes.

Truthfully, Caleb really didn’t care about Ti Gold’s mad enthusiasm on changing what had been done to the poor children. Over time he had come to realize that he should not only protect himself but those who would consider applying for the night shift. Despite growing attached to a few of the robotic characters, Caleb…let’s just say that he couldn’t see himself leaving just yet without a final goodbye.

He didn’t have the full names of any of the other kids (besides Candy Vire) and was pretty sure that Yaiba couldn’t give him the information. There had been the odd event in which he had witnessed Candy being murdered, but he was quite sure he’d had to either fall asleep and dream up a similar situation with luck or get close enough to touch a different robot. Both seemed highly unlikely to happen- he had a better chance of getting struck by lightning.

Instead he did something very different. He went onto the Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria website.

Caleb didn’t know what to expect from the company, other than that it was supposed to be full of pizza and animal robots or ‘animatronics.’ What he didn’t expect was for the huge ‘Closed Until Further Notice’ bulletin on the front page, obstructing the other posts in the background. He could see blurry images of a happy bear in a top hat, a purple bunny with a red guitar, a large yellow chicken with a bib and a cupcake, and a red fox with an eye patch and a hook. The blurry title in the back read ‘Main Location Closes After Company Loses Last of Their Money’ which dated back to the late nineties.

He tried to click onto another page but was met with blocked results. Caleb then tried the open link at the bottom that red ‘Our New Location’ and saw that it was the New Hampshire branch that he worked at.

It was a new website location that went under the url ‘ffflocation14.com/’ with a picture taken back in October of Carta Fazbear, Candy Bon, and Deathly Chic doing a performance. There were lists of upcoming events, daytime schedules, and menus under a brief description of the place.

He searched around the sight for anything related towards the dead children but came up empty-handed. Going to Plan B, Caleb then tried to search up some information on the characters. What he did find were neat bios of all the available characters on display, no Withered androids included.

Each bio didn’t give any information about the children though, so he had to think up a Plan C.

The new plan involved him emailing the help desk on the website about the dead children. When he came to the section on the website to ask for help there was a selection of guidelines at the top. Since Caleb had learned his lesson, he leaned towards his computer’s screen and read. His hopes dashed when he read ‘employees will be fired immediately if they ask about their jobs on here’.

Time for Plan D!

He exited out of the website and went back to the search engine’s main page. Instead of heading for the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria website he searched the other links for anything related to the company. Most of the information was outdated to the eighties about a bite or fire, and then there was an article from the early nineties about a multitude of missing persons reports filed at a location more south.

The tragedies went deeper as he uncovered a massively viewed article about missing children. He clicked onto it and was met with something similar to the case he was trying to research.

Apparently a guard had disappeared after five children had vanished at a birthday party, leading to rumors of the children being murdered as the animatronics at the time became increasingly smelly and fluid escaped out of their openings. There was even an incident where a child was killed on the premises on an earlier location. In total, around two-to-six children had been killed at the Pizzeria locations.

Caleb was glad that he hadn’t been around for recruitment when these murders had happened. It was one of the perks of being employed at the New Hampshire location.

There was another article about the disappearance of a police officer in-training at the same location down south that had happened in midway last year. A follow-up was about the mysteries of a cat animatronic named Millie but he had lost interest and had gone to another article.

After another hour of searching, he decided to search for ‘freddy fazbear’s charity drive for dead children’ and came up with only a few results.

The first was an article about how the company had ripped-off the saddened families of the children and made a mockery of them. He skimmed through the article until he found what he was looking for.

Names!

There was a short mention of the families who had lost their children and newspaper clippings on what they had looked like prior to their death. One slot was missing since the family didn’t want to reveal the names of the deceased and instead wanted privacy for their tragedy.

He collected the given names of Dea Tollence, Carta Mantua, Candy ‘Cindy’ Vire, Iren Beran, Denise Stoll, Angel Fewver, Mary Bonaparte, Daemi ‘Day’ Corow, Perry Kathens, Xenes Ida, and Red Pruina. The last slot had both a picture and name missing, but Caleb had a good idea as to who it belonged to. Each picture had a resemblance to one of the robots…all except for one monochrome puppet.

He wrote down the names on a sheet of paper and then wrote the name of the androids next to the children that matched them. For MM’s he put ‘???’ as the child’s name.

Caleb then folded up the sheet of paper and prepared himself for Monday night.

The sandy-haired guard picked up a note that was left near his extra batteries.

‘Dear Caleb, this is Marissa here!

I saved a left-over pizza for you in the giant freezer if you get hungry-

All you gotta do is stick it into one of the ovens for five-to-ten minutes and it should come out piping-hot!

Good luck on your shift!’

He smiled at Marissa’s kindness and put the note down. Too bad he wasn’t going to be able to eat during his shift.

Soon the alarm rung and Caleb sat back in his chair, waiting to hear the first sounds of movement near the doors. If he was correct, the AI should have reset itself for all of the robots to start up slowly for the week and he’d just have to relax until one of the Chica or Bonnie models came at him.

Sure, whatever this ‘star order’ that Carta had administered over the robots caused them to pop up in different locations, but that didn’t stop their AI units to divert from standard protocol. Old habits were meant to die hard.

He picked up the tablet to check the stages and saw that all of them were still in their spots. Caleb then swiveled to Kid’s Cove and saw that Mangled Law was still in her spot as well. The Arcade was all quiet too before he rewound the music box over at the Prize Corner.

It was quiet for nearly an entire hour as he kept switching from camera to camera and winding the box.

Caleb became very afraid, for it was unnatural for the remaining androids to remain inactive for long. Every time he looked back at each of their starting positions he prayed, just a little, that one of them would at least move.

He had never hoped for something like that before.

His answer came a quarter until one in the morning, when the camera feed on the main stage was disabled for a moment then re-enabled.

Caleb jumped up in his seat when he saw that Carta Fazbear was gone. He searched the main cafeteria but saw no movement or a familiar pair of white dots in the darkness. Her long legs could have easily made her sprint out of sight and into the further reaches of the building.

The haunting tune of Carta’s song played down the Main Hallway and Caleb virtually screamed as her lit face was on the other side.

She didn’t speak in tune with the song that played, “Why didn’t you leave when you had the chance? Naughty guards like you always split when given the chance.”

Her voice alone from the cold darkness would have been enough to send shivers down his back, but her voice had been taunting him so much that he had grown accustomed to such a feeling. Her words had no power over him now.

Then why was he still trembling?

She continued, “I have protected this place from the likes of you ever since we opened up and yet you still chose to show your guilty face each and every shift after your first. What drives you? Are you here to try and finish what you started?”

He was very confused as to what she was talking about. In order not to anger her he decided that it would be best to just let her prattle on.

“Just because you’ve lived long enough to see me give out the Star Order doesn’t mean you’re special, it just shows that you’re extremely annoying.”

The music and lights stopped before repapering in the left doorway and making Caleb shut his eyeballs so hard that they jumped into his throat.

“I won’t let you win, even if you keep coming back to the end of your days.”

He didn’t see her flicker out of existence and reappear in the right doorway.

“I am the ultimate protector of this place and I will make sure you get what you deserve.”

She reappeared back down the hall as the song began to diminish. Caleb grew a bit braver as he opened one of his eyes to view her.

“I’m going to figure out what makes you tick. Even if I don’t I’ll still be able to make sure that you get what you deserve.”

Then she was gone, music and lights as well. He blinked a few times before shining the flashlight down the hall and flickering the lights in both of the doorways only to reveal nothing. Caleb then picked up the tablet and searched around until he found Carta Fazbear back on the main stage.

He then heard thumping from the left vent and checked on it just in time to find X Bon making her way through. Caleb put the Freddy head back on and got ready for the small blue robot to make her appearance.

It was unsatisfying. Seeing X Bon crawl out of the opposite vent was almost like viewing her in her natural habitat on a normal night.

Caleb had spent almost three months at the establishment and had grown used to the robots’ scares. Despite still having a primordial fear for Carta Fazbear, he didn’t really fear that he might make it out in more than just a few pieces.

Then there was the horrifying -thing- in the giant present box that still sent chills down his spine every time he had to think about it. The chills he used to get had now subsided due to long exposure, however, and he would sometimes let the music box run a little more before he rewound it.

Was he deathly afraid of it? Yes, very much. But was he afraid of it because his phobia of clowns? No, not anymore. That thing was now on a level of its own.

Speaking of, it was time for him to rewind the music box. He switched over to the Prize Corner again and made sure to wind the box extra tight tonight in case MM tried anything funny.

To be fair, MM had been the only robot part of the team to play by the rules. She only had surprised him once by choosing a different route. Truthfully she could have used all three routes whenever the music box was dry but she had just stuck to the main one.

In fact, she had a really simple pattern. Once the music died away she would spring out and run for the office- simple. Add in all the other robots though, it became not simple.

He sighed and continued on with his shift, he didn’t have time to dwell on the nightmare-dwelling puppet.

One robot who appeared to not stay put was Carta Fazbear. As soon as he saw her in one camera’s view the connection would then disrupt the feed before he could view the room again to find Carta gone. This pattern continued and Caleb was starting to wonder if the giant had super speed with those long legs of hers or is she had supernatural powers like Ti Gold. Could it be that the lost child that clung to Carta Fazbear (the possible Carta Mantua) was the cause of Carta’s madness?

So he continued the game of hide and seeks with her until sometime around five in the morning.

What happened around that time was that after he had found Carta in the arcade area once again and the camera system was disrupted once again. There was a huge crash in the main hallway and a hissing noise that resembled a teapot letting out its steam and a large groan that made Caleb scrunch up his shoulders.

Silence echoed throughout the building as suddenly all of the other robots ceased movement altogether. The only movement that Caleb could sense was the fan on his desk and his own beating heart. No mechanical entity dared to move a cable as he unclenched his shoulders and reached for the flashlight oh so steadily.

He aimed it towards the large entree way in front of him and turned on the light. A vast amount of smoke was found slithering across the floor and moving thickly towards the office, covering a crumpled mass upon the cold floor.

Caleb stood up and walked slowly around the wooden desk and peered through the hissing smoke. A great gasp and wheeze then escaped from the mass on the floor before going silent, the smoke clearing away to reveal the fallen robot that was currently overheating.

It was none other than the terrifying ringleader herself, Carta Fazbear. Steam escaped her wide-open mouth, the cracks in-between her eyes and along her face, from around her legs, and from under her barbershop shirt. The expression on her fake face was wide and full of pain and anger, her eyes reflecting the floor of the building as her fake eyelids were dropped out of sheer exhaustion.

He looked at her misshapen legs and found that cables and springs had popped out from the back of her ‘boots’ to show that she had been free roaming for quite a while. The steel of her springs glowed under the flashlight’s glare and made them look heated.

Caleb jumped as there was a popping noise in the east side of the building and the tune ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ played. He looked onto the other side of the hallway as the music drifted all around him.

Scared, Caleb backed into the left wall and braced himself for MM to come his way.

The music slowed down and, instead of a scream, Caleb heard the soft, padded footsteps of the monochrome robot a she waked through the security office entrée way.

“Whoa…” her voice was surprisingly soft as her LEDs were illuminated, tracing the form of the still-smoking Carta Fazbear.

Caleb couldn’t believe he was standing at such a close distance to the two most deadly robots in the building, yet the only one still functioning didn’t seem to care that he was there. He gulped in fear.

After what seemed like an eternity, MM’s bushy-haired head slowly lolled up to face him. Her donut-shaped irises were hypnotic in the darkness, almost hidden under her fallen bangs.

She didn’t say anything as she continued to stare at him. Her frame was slightly curled upward in interest at the scene and her eyes continued to study him. Caleb’s mind was empty as he kept his eyes on the mechanical predator in front of him. Was it just him or was there mechanical groaning coming from her black-skinned throat?

Uneven footsteps came from the upper part of the hallway and MM took one look in their direction before silently, swiftly, hurriedly, like a ghost, skedaddled back into the office and through the right door to renter the Prize Corner. Caleb turned in the other direction as the footsteps stopped in front of the fallen ringleader.

It was a procession led by Candy Bon with Deathly Chic and Mangled Law following. The tangled robot hung from the ceiling, both heads silent.

“She’s fallen,” Candy stated like the emotionless robot he was supposed o be.

“She’s over exerted herself again,” Deathly said and took a step back.

Caleb slowly backed away from the group but his movements caught their attention.

Mangled Law’s white-haired head whinnied at Caleb as he tried to retreat, Candy and Deathly’s heads slowly turned to face him.

“Go,” the yellow dressed robot said.

Candy looked back down at Carta before stopping down and picking up one of her long legs, “It’s best to quit early tonight Caleb, Carta won’t be up for a while.”

Mangled Law clung closer to the ceiling before making her way back towards Kid’s Cove for the night. Deathly Chic took Carta’s other leg as she and Candy dragged their partner back down the main hall.

Caleb continued to back away from the scene before he turned and ran back into his office. Besides the ever-blowing fan on the desk, everything was quiet. He packed up his small bag before heading out the left door.

The guard did pass by the kitchen and thought of the pizza Marissa had left for him. His stomach grumbled and he checked his bag to make he had enough room to stuff an entire pizza in it before entering the large white room.

Now he had never been in the kitchen or had seen the interior of it before. Due to the camera only picking up audio from this room he had no map of the room.

The room was a grand kitchen white with red and black patterns that looked to be formed from an early nineties aesthetic. Caleb’s one time in the kitchen had been only as a hunt for pots and pans to put up against Deathly Chic but he had never taken the time to actually look.

He spotted the giant walk-in freezer and walked over to it. Seeing it was open Caleb thought that Marissa had accidentally forgotten to close it or if Deathly or Carta would always walk into it and the daytime staff would find it opened in the morning.

Caleb opened the door wider and saw Madeleine Marionette sitting on the icy floor with a huge bucket of mint chocolate chip ice cream and one of her arms traveling down her throat. The arm was elongated and slowly traveling down her black neck, creating ripples on her fake skin like a snake

Her head and arm slowly turned to face him as she finally took notice of him. The two continued to stare at one another like before in the Main Hall before she yanked her arm out of herself and revealed her wet hand with bits of ice cream still on it. A small triangular shape slipped out between her sharp teeth that Caleb thought was a feline tongue.

She gestured the ice cream bucket towards him, “Want some?”

Caleb took a step back in fright and tripped over something wrapped in plastic on the floor. He looked down and saw a wrapped pizza with sticky note on it addressed to him.

MM still was still offering the bucket.

Swiftly, he picked up the pizza and ran as fast as he could out of the room and out of the building. He started the car and drove back home, sleeping until ten in the morning. Caleb had the leftover pizza for breakfast.

That day was very odd. Odd in that he couldn’t stop thinking about MM’s behavior towards him in the early morning and the time he found her sneaking around in the Arcade after seven. He knew little to nothing about her and there was no likeness to any of the deceased children unless she was the child that was labeled ‘???’ by what the website had given him.

If he had to get to know the robots a bit better in order to talk them into leaving their new bodies and following Ti Gold into…somewhere, then he’d have to get caught up on the marionette’s tricky business. His first step would have to be getting to know the deceased children a little better.

First he had to make a call to a familiar place.

Caleb picked up his phone and scrolled through his recent calls until he found Yaiba’s number. He selected it before waiting for her to pick up.

“Hey Yaiba…yeah it’s me again…listen, is it possible for me to get some more information about the children…about the robots…alright…yes…thank you…see you soon.”

The guard ended up meeting the nurse over at a diner for dinner near the south side of town. It turned out that Yaiba only worked in the morning and sometimes the afternoon when there was an emergency. She couldn’t have met Caleb for lunch due to such an emergency happening today.

“Thanks for meeting me here,” Caleb said as they sat down.

She smiled, “Hey, it’s my treat. I haven’t eaten anything all day.”

Today Caleb had decided to dress more casual in a shirt with The Shins on it, clean jeans, and a checkered hoodie from Christmas. Yaiba looked a bit ruffled since she had just gotten off of work with her purple and blue striped shirt, black pants, and maroon overcoat.

“They have some pretty good burgers here, sandwiches are also good during lunch hour,” she flipped through a large menu.

“Glad to know.”

After they ordered their drinks they got down to business.

Yaiba folded her hands and leaned closer, “So what do you want to know?”

Caleb reached into his back pocket and pulled out the slip of names he had gathered, he had folded the right side to cover up the names of the robots, “Well, for starters, I have a list of names that I’ve gathered of the children who were used to model the robots. Could you tell me if these are correct?”

She took the paper and read it with a serious expression on her face, “Denise, Candy, Carta, Dae, Angel, and Mary I recognize, Iren, Daemi, Perry, Xenes, and Red I don’t. The last few, I suspect, must have slipped my mind. They do sound familiar but I don’t see the names for the twins?”

Caleb scratched the back of his head, “Well, they didn’t release the names but there were profile pictures of the two I think.”

“I remember now, their names were Trijal and Just- they both died pretty young.”

Both of their names sounded like the terms ‘trial’ and ‘justice’ and made Caleb see why the tangled robot was now known as Mangled Law.

He brought both of his hands to his mouth and stared off in thought.

Yaiba just continued to look at the ‘???’ written at the bottom. She looked up at him, “What’s this?”

Caleb looked at where she was gesturing at, “Oh, there was no picture or name.”

The color in her eyes dulled, “Her.”

He looked up at her, “Her?”

“The one,” she made a notion with her neck.

Realization dawned on him as his eyes went wide and he leaned back in his chair, “Ooooohh…”

Their waitress came back with their drinks and asked if they wanted any appetizers, both of them declined but stated that they needed a few more minutes to decide on what they wanted or dinner. Once she was gone both went back into their conversation.

Yaiba pushed her hair back, “The robot was named after her, the Madeleine Marionette model. I didn‘t know much about her or even met her before, but I did hear that she was from the southern of the United States. She lived close by the original Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria, same hometown.”

Caleb decided to tread carefully through this conversation, “Was this a connection as to why she was chosen to be used as a model?”

“Maybe,” she shrugged before returning to the menu. “One thing that I do know is that she was a beloved friend and student, but that’s all anyone up here would say about her. She’s too far away to know and didn’t die a glorious death for anyone to care about.”

He picked out what he wanted to eat, “Any characteristics that set her apart? Anything to do with her model or her robot‘s role?”

“I don’t see what you want to know,” Yaiba folded up her menu and looked him in the eye. “But since our last conversation I grew curious about the others, so I looked up on some stuff I found on the children as individuals and you would not believe some of the things I read.”

The waitress returned to ask for their order. Caleb stated he wanted the BLT as Yaiba said she wanted the Veggie Burger.

Caleb leaned forward once their waitress vanished again, “What, are they disturbing or something?”

“No, it’s just what I didn’t expect to find about them.” Yaiba sipped from her drink. “For starters, none of them ever lived around New Hampshire or outside of the country. I guess the company didn’t want any locals to know about them. Most of the information is what they were and how they died, most of it was pretty gruesome.”

She paused for a moment, “I think all of them were from freak accidents. For example, one of them was crushed at a construction site and there was the amusement park incident. Then we have a tween, Xenes, who was mugged and slashed, and then Carta Mantua who was shot five times in the chest. I also read that this kid with a Polish name, I think she called herself Day Time or something, she drowned in her father’s pool after the housekeeper accidentally put the automatic cover back on indoors.”

Caleb had a ghastly look on his face that caused Yaiba to stop, “You alright? You should drink some of your water.”

“R-right, thanks.” he sipped out of his glass. “I’m really not used to death, really. Not a lot of people have died, who were close to me, I mean. My grandfather has leukemia right now and the only reason I agreed to take the night shift was to help raise money for him.”

“Oh,” Yaiba leaned back in her chair. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“No, it’s fine. I suppose you were going to ask why I was at the pizzeria anyway.”

“True. That question has been on my mind since I read your file at the hospital.”

An idea struck Caleb, “Would it be possible to check the medical files of the children?”

The intern nearly choked on her drink before answering, “Caleb no! They’re not from here and, even if they were, I wouldn’t dare try to read their files without permission from the families! I’m just an intern too; I don’t have full access to such things.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry about that. It was just a thought I had.” he waved his hands in surrender.

Soon their waitress came back with their food and they dug into their meals with gusto.

Once they reached a stopping point in their meal Yaiba continued, “Listen Caleb, there’s still not a lot of anything else that I can reveal to you. Since I’m not dead I can’t speak for them but I can speak for my brothers.

“Xerreff, Talma, and I were triplets and were known for our genius skills in technology and science. Sadly, only I am still alive today and can tell you this: As a doctor I must insist that you need your rest. We didn’t get anything done if we didn’t have time to sleep. You, on the other hand, are pretty exhausted buddy.”

“Well, gee thanks,” Caleb said before taking another bite out of his sandwich.

“No, seriously, take a look in the mirror sometime, pal.”

A few bites later Caleb had a question, “So what do you know of the girl who modeled Madeleine Marionette?”

Yaiba gulped down another bite before answering, “Not much. Her parents and family didn’t want to release her picture and name to the press but it was in a southern newspaper, local. Like the puppet, her first name is Madeleine, but I have forgotten what her last name was. Apparently she was suffering from multiple mental illnesses that weren’t getting the proper treatment she needed and kept claiming that she was suffering from nightmares.”

“Would this have anything to do with how MM looks like today?”

“MM?” Yaiba put her burger down. “You mean Madeleine Marionette?”

He nodded.

“Besides the wires keeping her up…I’m not sure. The newspaper stated that she had been suffering from her terrible dreams for years, they had stated that she had given the name of a hallucination that had manifested from said dreams as ‘Nightmare’ which appeared to her any time of the day or in any sort of form.”

No wonder he got nightmares seeing her.

“It was rumored that it was the ultimate reason why she hung herself, but her friends stated that she had been suffering from an abusive family,” the intern finished her burger. “And that’s all I know of her. Most of the robots and their back stories are pretty hush-hush like I said before; I theorize that she was the most censored due to her reluctant family and cause of death. Trust me, a lot of people don’t want to celebrate a loved one’s death if they commit suicide, a lot of churches even refuse to house a funeral for them.”

“I suppose so,” he also finished his meal. “The church my grandparents go to wouldn’t permit a funeral for someone who had drowned themselves. I see some sense into this.”

The bill shortly came and Yaiba took it, “Good thing this place has fair prices. I like bringing my med school friends out here sometimes.”

Something in that sentence struck Caleb, “Am I your friend?”

“I don’t know,” she looked him in the eye. “We’ve only talked about the Pizzeria and your health, but we seem to get along just fine. We’re not exactly friends, but I guess we can call ourselves pals.”

He nodded and held out his hand, “To being pals?”

She shook it, “Pals.”

Later the two stood outside of the restaurant before Yaiba turned to the night guard, “I guess I should be seeing you around if you need any more help or if you get put into the emergency room any time soon.”

“Then I hope to not meet you on a medical berth again,” he chuckled.

“Tread carefully, Caleb,” Yaiba said before going in the opposite direction.

Caleb had a voided feeling that he wasn’t going to be seeing the future nurse ever again. It was like they were the only two people in existence in a black world, Yaiba was walking away in slow motion as the sidewalk under her appeared and disappeared. He only stood still for a few minutes in this dream-like state before Yaiba turned a corner and was gone.

The guard was brought back to reality as he also turned away and walked back to his house, making sure he had time to spare before it rained that night.

Caleb decided to get some much-needed sleep before his shift. He shuffled under his covers before falling asleep.

That night he had a strange yet very realistic dream. He dreamt that he was in his regular security guard clothes but with a different patch on his shoulders depicting a crescent moon with a four-pointed star in the center. Caleb recognized the tablet in his hands but not the decrepit room.

He was sitting in a swivel chair in a security office with dark blue walls and familiar tiled floors. The hardware desk in front of him had the pink cupcake from the franchise and a shiny black fan that whirled fresh air around the room as trash was piled high on top and in front of different VHS and DVD players that connected to smaller television sets like in his office. One thing that was quite different was the large ‘CELEBRATE’ poster behind the red landline phone that didn’t star Carta Fazbear, X Bon, and Deathly Chic but an animatronic trio that comprised itself of a dapper brown bear, a lavender rabbit with a red guitar and matching bowtie, and a yellow bird-chicken holding the same pink cupcake in the office and ‘LET’S EAT!’ bib Deathly and Day Chic wore.

On either side of the room was a large doorway and next to both entrances had a set of buttons that each read as ‘LIGHT’ or ‘DOOR’ that were colored as green and red respectively. Near the desk and next to each door was a window that looked out into the darkness of the building.

A slight movement in the right window caught his attention as he suddenly left for the right door switch and, surprisingly, a large wall of steel came out of the top of the entrée way and slammed into the floor.

Caleb saw a yellow hand paw at the window and he turned on the right light to see the yellow chicken from the poster peering in. She actually had a bright look in her LED-illuminated eyes and her large maw of a beak was angle to resemble a smile.

“Wow Mikey! You got me without the screen this time!”

Laughter could be heard from Caleb’s body as he seemingly shook, “Don’t need to anymore.” This voice was deeper than his own and held a hint of immaturity.

A stomping noise came from the left doorway as Caleb sat completely still, no hint of danger radiating off of him. Despite Caleb’s inner turmoil of thinking a killer robot was coming down to gut him, his figure seemed to perk up as the tell-tale sound of metallic heals clicked near the doorway.

The chicken disappeared from the window as a tall humanoid figure coated in iron entered the office.

And that was it. The rest of their imagery was heavily blurred as Caleb could only recall an iron figure in the doorway and nothing else about them.

Then the scenery changed to that where the lights in the office were a bit dimmer but the left door was the only door closed.

Caleb clutched the tablet between his hands as he peered at an energy meter that was draining heavily. There were large knocks on the closed door that caused the power to easily slip away in large chunks.

“Let me in ‘ye hearty matey!” a chuckle came from the other side that was heavily pirate accented.

“Not on your life!” he yelled out in defiance.

He felt a large presence behind him as something inched closer to his back. When he turned around to look all he found was a black shaped figure with large white eyes and blood encrusted teeth that was looming right over his head.

Then the scene changed again before Caleb could do anything. He was still in the same office but the lights were fully on and the time on the tablet showed that it was six in the morning.

Caleb stood up and picked up a messenger bag before waltzing out of the left door. He mentally screamed since he thought it was dangerous to be out an hour early before his shift ended but the figure he inhabited walked with ease.

There was an upright stature at the end of the hallway, however. It was a little hunched over with glowing green eyes and had fiery red fur; a cat animatronic. The thing stood completely still as a loud ringing enveloped them.

Lights flared and Caleb found that he was in a different scene, running in the middle of a sea of tables topped with party hats. He looked behind him and saw that there was the dapper bear from the poster chasing after him, screaming a mouthful of static and binary garbage.

Caleb managed to run into a room in a darkened corner and slammed the door behind him. He saw, to his horror, which he was in a smaller version of the Parts and Services room he knew, minus the familiar robots.

What really did take the cake was the floating golden version of the dapper bear that had been chasing him. It was surrounded by a halo of white light as it slowly came towards him. There was nowhere to run, he felt the door being pounded on by a heavy monster.

“Witness,” a slithery voice came from the golden bear as a loud ringing noise reappeared.

“The joy…” its lower jaw opened and moaning shadows escaped from it, clawing at each other in order to surround the room in darkness.

“Of…” the bear’s blackened eyes were suddenly illuminated by white pinpricks in their centers as his paws came towards Caleb’s face.

“Creation!” then all shadows screamed at once and Caleb opened his mouth to also emit a loud screech.

He sat upright in bed with his heart pounding and a silent scream in his throat at the sudden nightmare. The guard was drenched in sweat and all of his covers were a mess on the floor. He quickly got out of bed and took a cold shower to calm himself down.

Caleb groaned after his cold bath and looked at the clock by his bed; he had at least an hour before his shift began. Sighing, he marched into the kitchen and got a midnight snack out: a chocolate popsicle. He felt much better after he had eaten all of it.

The sandy-haired man then decided to at least get dressed and ready before heading out. It wouldn’t harm him to at least get to the pizzeria a little early; it was only ten blocks away and a short walk for him. Being in a some-what suburban area wasn’t such a bad thing sometimes.

He subtly walked out of his house, locking the door behind him, and strolling in the direction of the pizzeria.

Now he didn’t expect much tonight but o find Carta waiting for him in order to give him a quick death. Perhaps she would be waiting in the security office like Bloody Foxy/Mary had done, but instead the tall robot would quickly come up to him and twist his neck. Maybe Candy and Deathly will block both of the doors as Carta would slowly walked down the main hall as she sung her usual song, then she would slowly tear him apart one limb at a time. There was also the possibility that she would sick all of her minions on him.

Whatever was ahead of him, Caleb sure it wasn’t pleasant.

But what had happened with the three robots coming towards him and asking him to leave? He had gotten to know Candy Bon and Deathly Chic for a while now since they were the only two constant sources of conversation for the night, but their behavior of dragging Carta Fazbear away had struck an odd note. If they were against following her rules then why bother keeping her safe? It wasn’t like they were forced to follow her after she was inured to some degree.

Whatever. He got to the building and unlocked the door for him to get through before locking it behind him.

Caleb may have been half an hour early but he didn’t mind. All that he was worried about was if Carta was going to go berserk by just the sound of him coming in. When that didn’t happen he just continued on his normal path towards the office to wait for eleven o’clock to roll around.

This time he did get through reading a certain amount of his favored book that he had begun reading during his first night on the job. He was nearly done and only had one chapter left to go. Sometimes he would read a portion of it before bed or at meal times, but he would never find any time to get further into the story no matter how many times he brought it to his night shift.

When he was halfway done through the last chapter he decided that it was time to stop so he marked his place and put the paperback away to look at the time. He had a minute before his shift began and yet nothing had happened yet. Sighing, he resigned to steadying the flashlight and tablet into position before readjusting himself to sit in an active stance in the chair.

Ding-dong-dong-ding.

Ding-dong-dong-ding.

Yay!

His shift for, probably, his most deadly night had begun. He gave it sometime before he checked the tablet for any movement.

Carta Fazbear wasn’t on stage but Candy Bon and Deathly Chic were in their usual relaxed stances. He switched to the Parts and Services room to find a large worktable sitting in the center of the room with the fallen robot on top of it. Carta’s top hat and lower jaw had been removed to show the top of her head and the inside of her large mouth. Screws, wires, bolts, drivers, dried glue, and other materials were lying around her head and legs. Her legs had been opened and readjusted before seemingly fixed to a point but her lifeless eyes have away that she couldn’t have been awake. Even if she could she wouldn’t be able to walk around with those scrappy legs.

The phone then rang and Caleb’s direction was then alerted elsewhere as the message played.

“Hey, I just got word from management this morning about Carta. It doesn’t look good buddy.”

Oh boy.

“Nobody blames you; she was supposed to run out of steam sooner or later.”

He saw that X Bon twitched on stage.

“She was always rather active in the dark, didn’t like being under the lights. Every time the stage lights came on her it looked like she was in pain or just didn’t register for a moment that she was supposed to act. She has more of a mind…left alone to think and ponder as more people and robots come into this place.”

Caleb switched back to the main stage and saw that both Candy Bon and Deathly Chic were gone.

“I think I’ve said this before but Carta wasn’t always trouble. There are some reports from before my shift here that detail her being rather docile and having smoother movements. Then they cut out a section about something but I don’t know what it is. Apparently one of the test audiences with her and her two partners must have gone wrong.”

The guard switched through the hallway and kitchen cameras to search for the two.

“Don’t worry man; Carta Fazbear will be back in working order tomorrow. You’re still scheduled to retire from here around V-Day. I hope you don’t cause any more trouble buddy.”

When Caleb switched back to the other stage he saw that the three robots there were also gone.

“Well, I won’t take up most of your time. Good night!”

The phone clicked and Caleb knew something was wrong. Despite not listening to much of the recording he was rather more aware of the fact that he had lost all of the robots in just a matter of minutes (which wasn’t a world record, according to his past Friday night shifts). Then there was a suspicious voice nagging in the back of his head, telling him that something was up with the Phone Girl- she hadn’t been stuttering this time.

Caleb switched through the camera feeds again to try and find something. What he did find odd was that the camera in Kid’s Cove was working but the screen remained black. There was little to audio going on and Caleb had an intuition that something was up.

If someone had snuck into the building and stolen the robots without his knowledge while he was sitting down then he’d be in big trouble. He couldn’t just call 9-1-1 and say that he needed help being the security guard because he was the designated 9-1-1 for the building.

His best option was to take a blunt weapon and see what was going on in Kid’s Cove for the time being. If he saw someone in the building he would call the police and get back-up, but if this was a plot set up by the iron monsters then he was in deep trouble.

Why not? This job was probably the deepest pit of trouble he’d fallen into.

Taking the large flashlight, Caleb stood up and quietly sneaked around the right wall and down the hall.

He kept the light lowered to the floor as he neared the open door to Kid’s Cove, his heart beating erratically in his chest as he prepared to face the worst of what human or robot kind had to offer.

The hushed voices from the tablet were much clearer and sounded…cheerful?

No burglars ever made such happy noises like so.

He sighed before neared the open door as he heard a cheerful shout that was almost kept under breathe. What unnerved him was that it sounded so much like…static.

Caleb took a deep breath and opened the door to find Candy Bon, Deathly Chic, X Bon, Red Chic, Ice Bear, Mangled Law, and Demi Balloon Girl sitting in a circle, on the tiled floor, playing a round of Uno.


	9. Child ???

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As soon as Caleb thinks he’s hit rock bottom in his life someone just has to slip the rug from under him. When all secrets are revealed then what is left for him to discover?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter! I had a lot of trouble trying to get this to be twenty pages so I had to add a bunch of stuff in. I also don’t want to leave Marissa and Derek in the dust so this is a neat wrap up for the trio.

Candy put a card down before looking up and seeing Caleb standing in the doorway, his mouth open in shock.

The purple-clad robot just perked up and waved, “Hey Caleb! Come and have a seat, we’re playing a card game tonight!”

All of the other robots in the room swiveled their heads to look in the guard’s direction. Caleb gulped at the oddity of it all.

“What’s going on?” the words came shakily out of his mouth.

“We’re playing Go Fish,” said Red Chic.

“I thought we were playing Poker,” Deathly Chic stated.

“But the cards say ‘U-No’ on the back,” Demi Balloon Girl pointed out.

“Quiet!” Ice Bear snapped at the arguing three.

This was too weird, yet so surreal. He just continued to stand nervously in the doorway.

Candy Bon looked at his group of fellow robots before standing up, “Carta’s not active tonight so we’re having a break. We won’t hurt you tonight.”

“Much,” X Bon said under her breath. Deathly Chic swatted her blue head.

Caleb wasn’t so sure that he should be socializing with this group. This could be a trap for him to lower his defenses while Carta wasn’t in control.

Mangled Law, who had been hanging from the ceiling, scuttled over to him and let their damaged endoskeleton head get close to his head.

The guard almost screamed at the close up of the half-working head as it let out low beeps. Its single eye trained on Caleb.

“Tracie and Jeevus insist,” Red Chic tried to translate.

“It’s Mangled Law,” the white head stated in a rather rough tone that surprised Caleb.

He looked up at her, “Y-you can talk!”

A snort came out of the white heads’ mouth, “Don’t be surprised. Now go sit down and play, relax, we have a spot saved for you.”

Then a gnarly had come down and gently shoved Caleb closer to the group on the floor. He yipped out in surprise before heading towards the mechanical fiends. As it was, Caleb had no other choice but to play along since the doorway was now blocked.

He sat down as Deathly Chic pushed a stack of cards towards him, “Here, we’ll restart the game for you.”

“Aww I was just about to win,” Demi’s smiled curled outward in disagreement but she shuffled her set anyway.

As everyone else shuffled their cards Caleb got a chance to see he was sitting next to Candy Bon on his left and Red Chic to his right. Red Chic didn’t have her LEDs on at the moment but the white dots in her eyes acted almost like regular irises. She caught him staring and he quickly looked away to look at his own deck.

It was then that he took a closer look at the cards and found that they weren’t brand new but actually looked almost in shambles. Like the cards had been passed from generation to generation.

Candy re-shuffled his hand before starting, “Remember, the last one with the odd card loses. I’ll start.”

He looked towards X Bon, “Have any threes, X?”

She looked down and shook her head, “No. Go-Fish.”

Candy drew a card.

It was X Bon’s turn; she looked at Red Chic, “Have any fives?”

The faceless robot’s eyes glanced at her hand, “Go-Fish.”

X Bon drew a card.

Red Chic looked across at Deathly Chic, she gave a low laugh, “Any ones?”

The grey-haired robot’s face split into a small grin, “No, please Go-Fish.”

A rumble escaped the inside of Red Chic’s throat as she drew a card ever so slowly from the pile in the center and added it to her hand. Caleb trembled at the sight.

Deathly Chic took the chance to turn to Caleb, “So, dearest Caleb Squaire, have any Quads?”

Caleb grumbled, “Yeah.” He fished the two matching color changer cards out of his hand and gave them to Deathly Chic. “Do you guys do this often? Every time you have a free night?”

Everyone in the room looked at him. Ice Bear looked like she wanted to snarl at him.

Deathly Chic’s smile fell as she answered his question, “No, this is only the second time we’ve done something like this. We only have a break night when Carta Fazbear is offline for the night. This is our first time we have decided to play cards, last time we baked a pizza.”

He shifted in his seat, “Why do you guys even follow her?”

“It’s your turn to ask someone for their cards,” Ice Bear’s deep voice made him turn towards her in fright.

Deathly Chic nodded, “Please, play the game.”

Caleb carefully looked at his cards in hand before slowly turning to Demi Balloon Girl, “Do you have any sixes?”

The small gremlin only shook her head, “I have no fingers, Go-Fish.”

“Be nicer to our guest,” Candy Bon tsked at her.

Caleb just grabbed a card as Demi asked for the three twos that Candy Bon had. Candy then asked Deathly Chic and she then asked X Bon. X Bon then asked Red Chic and she asked Ice Bear. Ice Bear then asked Mangled Law before she let out a high-pitched noise in Caleb’s direction.

Candy Bon nudged his side, “She’s asking if you have any fours.”

“Oh,” he looked at his cards. “No, Go-Fish.”

As Mangled Law took a card out with her endoskeleton’s head the night guard turned to Candy, “Why doesn’t Carta ever give you a break?”

Candy’s face fell and his long ears drooped a bit, “We…only have free time after we’ve given a guard to Carta, when a guard isn’t on duty, or before the store opens for the day.”

“Why don’t you-”

“Play the game.”

Ice Bear’s low growl made him shut up and look at his cards.

He eventually asked Red Chic for any fives and she gave him her set. The cycle of Go Fish continued until X Bon was the one left with an unexpected Joker Card that had been put into the Uno deck.

The blue robot grumbled before tossing her card at Candy who had started to reshuffle the cards for another round. Caleb watched as Candy’s hands made precise movements while shuffling as if he was programmed to work at Las Vegas instead of this pizzeria.

This time X Bon went first and asked Deathly Chic if she had any ‘quads’ but was told otherwise. Deathly Chic looked towards Caleb.

“Any color-changers by any chance?”

Caleb shook his head, “No, but please answer this: Why are we doing this.”

“We’re doing this because it’s fun. Now, I should probably get a new card-”

“Can’t you just answer straight for one moment!” Caleb shouted.

X Bon almost surged off of the floor to tackle Caleb but one of Mangled Law’s thick cabled arms held her down.

“How dare you speak about her in such a way!” the blue robot struggled under the mangled robot’s grip.

Demi Balloon Girl wasn’t much better. Beside from lunging at him the small gremlin instead she was glaring daggers with her wide eyes. He gulped at the sight.

Candy let out a puff of air from his metal mouth, “Caleb…there are some things that you can’t understand.”

“Can’t understand?” he nearly stood up. “I’m playing Go-Fish with you murders! We’re not even using the right deck! What’s stopping you guys from just getting me right now?”

Ice Bear and Red Chic shifted into ready positions as if they were ready to follow along X Bon’s initial plan to jump him.

“Caleb,” he saw that Deathly had a sad look on her face. “We didn’t ever want to do this, to follow Carta’s reign, but-”

“But what?” this time he did stand up. “If you know it’s wrong then what compels you to continue?”

“Caleb!” a harsh voice rose next to him and Caleb was startled at seeing Candy Bon stand next to him with an intimidating look. “That is enough. We came together tonight on peaceful intentions to just forget about what we do every other night, not to provoke us into our hateful routine.”

The guard took a step back, uncertain.

“If you want answers then we can take this somewhere else,” Deathly Chic stood up as Candy went on. “You don’t have to play with us anymore; you don’t have to play our games anymore. We’ll talk, you’ll listen. You can just get on with your routine and we won’t bother you ever again.”

He gulped as the rest of the playing cards fell to the floor and he was standing right in front of the two eldest robots in the room. This was his chance. Caleb could finally put together the link between the story from Angel Fazbear and Yaiba’s history together, but he would then lose his only supporters at night until he finally quit this job.

On one hand he could finally solve the case for Ti Gold and end it but he could also lose the new friends he had made from this job. So it was either do the right thing and live unhappily ever after or he could continue to live comfortably like this and never solve the forever question of why Carta Fazbear was this way.

He hated to admit it, but it was better to live without this haunting mystery before he had to leave this place.

“I need to know,” he looked up at Candy Bon.

Deathly Chic nodded and looked at her partner, “The stage.”

Candy Bon turned and headed out of the door to Kid’s Cove before Caleb could understand what was happening.

“Follow,” she glided past him in a low tone.

Caleb followed her but turned to look back at Kid’s Cove to see the other robots back away from them and try to recreate their card game. He continued down the main hall to follow the two.

Candy Bon was sitting in front of the Main Stage at the table in the center of the room. He looked like a regular human with his back hunched over and his chin resting in his folded hands. If his back wasn’t turned then Caleb would have noticed his enlarged ears.

Deathly sat next to her partner and gestured across from them, “Please sit down.”

It seemed as if they and the room were the only things in existence. The building was quiet and there was tension in the room that made the room feel as large as an air hangar.

He took his place at the table and sat down in a polite stature.

“You wish to know our story and why we continue to follow her.” Candy Bon spoke but Caleb didn’t see his mechanical mouth move.

Caleb wanted to answer but he couldn’t find the willpower to do so.

“Carta Fazbear wasn’t always what she tends to be now. She was kind, polite, and cared about those around her. Both of us came online a few hours after Carta had, and we got to know her as our first friend. We were her partners and lived for one reason with her: To play with and protect the children.

“We were well-behaved back then and well-liked by the staff as well. We weren’t feared or even dared to kill or torture back then either, there wasn’t even a night guard back then because we didn’t pull any tricks or just didn’t see the point in it. The staff knew about our AIs and had conversations with us, and we learned from them.

“Then a week after we were put on for a test audience. We were very successful our first, second, and third night and were about to be introduced to the masses soon but…we had an accident on the fourth night.”

Deathly Chic’s eyes dimmed as her fake eyelids slowly closed, “Yes, if there hadn’t have been a fourth test then none of what we’ve become would be here today.”

Candy Bon nodded and continued, “It was near the middle of our performance where a child escaped his seating and approached the stage. We were in autopilot and couldn’t escape from our routine since we were doing one of our assigned tasks at the moment. The boy’s father started yelling for him to come back but the child refused and instead decided to clap along to our dance. Soon it became…overheated.

“The father came up to his son and began to berate his child, screaming and delivering harsh blows. When the child started screaming and crying we stopped our performance. This problem had never happened before so we were frozen in place for a few seconds. Carta happened to move faster than us and proceeded to approach the man, taking one step at a time towards the edge of the stage.

“No one saw it coming. She leaned over the attacking father before lunging at him and biting his head. There was a lot of blood, a lot of screaming, a lot of emotions; fright, horror, sadness, fear, anger, black, white, just so much. Everything changed that night. Our staff at the time would explain that time can sometimes blur for when things or events simply become too emotional, but no such event happened for us as we watched all of the blood rain in front of us and the audience flees in terror. We were forced to watch the boy cry out for his father. We saw the medical team arrive as they tried to yank away the man from Carta Fazbear as she refused to let go.

“They had to get another team known as a Fire Department to try and get the two apart. This went on for almost two hours as the father topped making sounds and just stopped moving all together. They took away the boy as the Fire Department entered the room. That man couldn’t even be pulled away in one piece. It was a bloody mess.

“In the end they had to remove Carta’s head from her body in order to remove her jaws from his head. He came out in pieces and was taken out in a black bag as Carta’s body and all of her head was put in Parts and Services.

“Such events were not taught to us and all we could do was stand and watch, learning. We learned the meaning of fear and how heavy trust was. We learned that the world wasn’t filled with kind people. Our AIs changed us due to the events that took place that night. We had to be dragged offstage by the current staff as janitors came in to clean up the mess. The curtains closed on us that night and remained that way until a day later where we were introduced to a new set of staff that didn’t know of our AIs and treated us like garbage- like we were lifeless, had no soul.

“Carta Fazbear did come back to us with her head on her shoulders once again. We were happy to see her again but she had…changed.

“She wasn’t as…composed as before, she was very afraid, full of fear. She couldn’t stop grabbing her head and saying that it hurt her, that she had failed. Once the staff came in to get ready for the day, Carta just lost it. She started exclaiming that every single adult was evil, hideous, a terrible color of purple, trying to hurt the children. We tried to make her see sense but she only pushed us away. She only grew more and more paranoid before we opened our door for the first time, but she went along as we did our performance like old times. It was as if she was the same before her bite, she was easy to follow and easy to be happy once again with her. But once the curtains closed she became panicked once again, this continued throughout the whole day until closing.

“She couldn’t stand it anymore. She came off of the stage and went to the person on staff that night- our first night guard. Deathly Chic and I decided to follow her and see what she was after; she started having a conversation with the guard that then turned sour…very sour.”

Caleb noticed Candy Bon pause as a shadow came over his face. Deathly Chic sat a little straighter.

“The guard didn’t know what was coming to him. He was scared, afraid of that Carta was actually talking to him like an intellectual, for he had no knowledge of our personalities. Carta then soon cut to the chase and took a swing at him; he collided with the wall and was left half-asleep as Carta dragged him back to the Parts and Services room. She stopped to turn and look at us like she wanted to say something, we wanted to have a talk with her, ask her what was going on but she just smiled. She dragged him into the room and left the door open for us to see what she was going to do.

“Carta set him down on the table as he made high-pitched noises out of fear. She then gets a large brown head out from one of the boxes in the room and starts talking to us, explaining that she was doing it for the children and that by doing this she was protecting them. Before we knew what was happening she put the head on the guard’s head and blood went everywhere. There was a lot of screaming from him as we watched Carta murder someone again.

“She brought out yellow, purple, red, and more brown parts until the guard was silent in his new…clothing. All we saw were his blood, oddly colored lumps, his eyes, some of his teeth, and more weird things come out of the eyes, shoulders, arms, neck, legs, stomach, just everywhere. She had finished way after he had stopped screaming.

“She told us that it was for the best that we continued this, like we had agreed to it in the first place. We hoped she would stop after that, to realize that this was madness. When the new staff came during the opening hours and saw him and the blood on Carta it didn’t take long for them to think up a story on how this could have happened. Soon another night guard was put on watch and was given better protection, that was when Carta urged us to follow her lead.

“We followed such orders because we actually thought she was doing good. Please don’t judge us. We knew Carta Fazbear to be a great teammate and the best person we had ever met, not as a bloodthirsty maniac who was ready to use any means necessary in order to fulfill our programmed needs.

“Later we were smart enough to realize that what we were doing was wrong and thus we tried o warn the guards but they thought that we were also hostile and decided to shoo us away. Carta didn’t catch on, but she did manage to convince Red Chic, X Bon, and Ice Bear to follow along with her since they had been programmed to be just like us. With a large number of us at hand she decided to give the guards a chance to prove themselves, but it was just an excuse to torture them. Then when the four who were meant for birthday parties, Perry Bon, Day Chic, Angel Fazbear, and Bloody Foxy, came we saw what the risk was for standing up to her.”

Caleb didn’t need to be reminded of that, for he heard of the four’s fate from Angel Fazbear themselves. The purple-clad robot in front of him continued.

“We either had to continue or rust in Parts and Services, not bringing joy to children or serving our purpose. That was when we began living in fear of Carta, not just for her strength but for her will to keep us in line. Mangled Law, formerly known as Ship and Wave, came in for test audiences but the children in each test would take the two apart and try to put them back together again. Carta left them alone as the staff tried to repair them every day but eventually they gave in and let the two simply become Mangled Law. Sadly, she doesn’t have much of an AI anymore and just tends to follow us around, confused, searching.

“Then Demi Balloon Girl and Madeleine Marionette came, the oddest due we were ever greeted with. Both of their AIs were the most advanced since they were programmed to interact with the children- where they had to perform unique and unpredictable acts every day. Carta nearly bullied the two to follow her, it worked with Demi Balloon Girl but Madeleine Marionette still had doubt. After she came out negative from her first two tests she had to get a part of her face fixed, but when she came back she tried to sabotage Carta by setting off the Fire Alarm and failed. Carta was beyond angry, beyond mad, beyond wrath.

“She basically dragged poor Madeleine Marionette into the kitchen once everyone was out of the building. No one, not even us, dared to follow them; we were all too scared to find out. Next we heard a great crash as she took out the camera in there, then we heard her start one of the ovens and a bunch of not-human screaming for an unmeasured period of time. Carta came out by herself but Madeleine Marionette was left in the silence until the daytime staff found her and had to take her out of the building. When she came back, she was much more silent…she only talked when she needed to and sometimes her face would just fall off. Every time the mask fell she would cover her face and run away with the mask. She hates and hates and hates and has pushed us all away because of Carta Fazbear. Her twin, Demi Balloon Girl, came out the opposite because of Carta; she’s very loyal, won’t shut up, and actually enjoys following Carta.

“Demi Balloon Girl isn’t the only one who would willingly follow Carta off a cliff, for X Bon nearly has the same frequency as her. Those two managed to convince Red Chic and Ice Bear to form a sort of gang that Carta was all too pleased with.

“And now we live in fear of Carta and her warped rules,” Candy completed his story, his eyes shining in the darkness as Deathly looked away from the two.

“We are cowards, for we should have at least stopped her before things went overboard. Now we are suffering from our own foolish thoughts that perhaps Carta Fazbear did see evil and tried to get rid of it, but we were only young and foolish. The only reason we still follow her is because we believe that the real kind, gracious, polite Carta Fazbear is still trying to lead us and not trying to make us into killing machines.”

Caleb had no words for the terrible beginnings of Carta Fazbear. He had been expecting a tale like the one he had been told but with not so bloody beginnings. If only robotics were easy then…then…Caleb didn’t know.

Deathly Chic nodded and looked at Caleb’s folded hands, “It’s a lot, yes. If you only knew Carta before her…bite, then you would understand why we act like we are today.

The two stood up as Candy Bon looked like he wanted to glare at the night guard, “Go, we told you our life story and now you must pay our price. No more communication with us. You can leave the building now and no one will stop you, or you can stay for your shift and act like you don’t exist. I’m sorry that we could not be friends in the end but this is how it must be.

He went back to Kid’s Cove as Deathly Chic nodded, “We don’t wish to be rude but no more contact would be the best. Please stay safe, dear Caleb Squaire.”

She followed her partner out of the room.

Caleb stayed behind, letting his thoughts piece themselves together like an a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. Everything was starting to make sense as to why Carta Fazbear wanted all the night guards dead and played this game, why she didn’t trust him or any of the other guards before. How she held the children’s lives in the highest of high of values.

Ti Gold wanted to free the poor souls who were attached to the robots. Trying to convince Carta that what she was doing was wrong was almost like asking someone to move a rainbow for him. Then he’d have to face Demi, X, Red, and Ice and try to help them see sense as to why their nightly routine was a terrible.

This was going to be impossible.

He stood up and walked back to the security office to pack up his belongings and find Ti Gold to try and converse with her and see what she could do. Maybe she could handle it without him now, maybe he wasn’t needed anymore. Caleb could finally go home and forget about everything that the company hid from sight.

He entered through the left doorway to sit down in the wooden chair. That was it. After this it was back to a regular life and donating his hard-earned money towards his grandfather. Maybe Caleb would actually get a real job with his college degree and maybe settle down and marry someone one day. No more robots, no more ghosts, no more spooks, no more bloody deaths.

He couldn’t wait to just enjoy life for what it was when he got out.

Once finished packing away his things back into his bag he stood up and-

Oh.

Madeleine Marionette was sitting on the right stack of old television sets in the room, staring at him, motionlessly. He hadn’t noticed her for how well she had blended into the shadows and dark objects that lurked in the corner. Her LEDs were off and thus didn’t make her look striking or draw attention to her.

Caleb froze at the sight as the two eyed each other without making a sound. She wasn’t smiling but rather waiting, like a predator waiting for their prey to make a move and allow themselves to be caught.

He was too scared to move, too frozen up in the moment to decide how to escape her.

MM tilted her head to the side slowly and Caleb did the same.

“Hello.”

Caleb was shocked by her greeting; he didn’t even see her fake mouth move.

He raised his left hand, “Hi.”

She leaned forward and this time Caleb did see her move her mouth, “Are you in trouble?”

It took him a moment to respond, “What?”

“Candy is angry, very angry, I haven’t seen him angry at himself in such a long time,” she slithered out of the shadows and sat on the smallest TV like a toddler. “Breaking Carta must have shown what it means to love her.”

Caleb blinked, “Love?”

“When you break someone it shows that you love them, right?”

Oh jeez.

The guard shook his head, “No, that’s not what love is.”

She tilted her head in the other direction, “How do you know? Carta loves us, she told us about it.”

He took a step back, “But isn’t love supposed to be when you would do anything for someone you trust?”

“I wouldn’t know,” MM leaned back. “I don’t even know you. I don’t know a lot of things.”

Was it just him or was she just as cryptic as Ti Gold?

She continued, “So what’s your name?”

He didn’t want to talk to her anymore but it was very characteristic of him to respond when he was asked a question. Caleb took a deep breathe, “I’m the night guard, Caleb Squaire.”

“Caleb!” she smiled at that and kicked her legs in glee. “That’s a nice name!”

“Yeah,” Caleb didn’t know if it was best to escape now or later. “You’re named Madeleine Marionette, right?”

She actually giggles, like the robot EVE from the WALL-E movie but much younger, more child-like. Her face is one of pure joy, her eyes closed and mouth wide open in mirth. “Yeah, but no one calls me by that.”

“Then what should I call you by?”

MM just shakes her head, “Carta calls me Daughter, Demi calls be Pathetic, but you can call me Madeleine Marionette. I haven’t been called that since…I don’t know. The girl at the counter and this other girl call me by that name.”

She was very talkative when not on the job of cutting him into ribbons.

Speaking of ribbons, Caleb looked at MM’s three-fingered hands and gulped. They weren’t looking sharp and claw-like at the moment but he was sure that they would be just as dangerous.

MM continued to prattle on, “I didn’t even know my name until this guy was with this group of children and told them that I would give them presents. I love giving children presents and gifts, giving is better than receiving because you get to make friends that way! I like my job!”

This was surely madness.

“I have a lot of time whenever I’m in my box. Sometimes I steal color sticks from the floor and draw inside of my box. I ran out of space some time ago after drawing everyone I see over and over and over and over again. People in the morning have to wash the inside of it sometimes when they take away my color sticks. They even wash me after every time I eat ice cream. Even though I try to eat like everyone else I think I’m doing something wrong because I get really wet and sticky on the inside after I’m done eating.”

Beyond madness.

“What do you do? All I know is that you sit there and keep me in the box,” she looked at the floor, smile gone. “I don’t like the box. It’s too cramped and stuffy and it’s dark and I’m not allowed to leave it unless the music stops. Carta says that I need to play with you until you stop moving once you let me out. I never get to be with the others.”

Caleb made slow movements toward the left door.

“I don’t like Carta at all. She’s mean to me. Demi Balloon Girl and X Bon are also mean. They get Ice Bear and Red Chic to also be mean to me. I wish I could be friends with Candy Bon and Deathly Chic because they seem nice. Deathly Chic is pretty and sometimes sings when she walks by my box. Mangled Law and I have never talked because she doesn’t know how to but I think we’re good friends.”

He bolted out through the left door before MM could understand what just happened. Caleb barely heard the shriek of surprise as MM scampered away but mistook it as a sign that she was going to chase him again.

The guard didn’t fall asleep until seven o’clock, where he dreamt of aching souls who were restless for freedom. His dream didn’t matter however, because he woke up feeling fitful but had no recognition of it around two in the afternoon.

That day did catch him off-guard with one little trick.

His phone went off around three and he rushed to pick it up, “H-hello, this is Caleb Squaire, speaking.”

“Hey Caleb!” it was Marissa. “Sorry for calling you unannounced but I wanted to ask you if you wanted to hang out today?”

This day kept on getting weirder and weirder.

“Hey Marissa,” he sat down at the edge of his bed. “I’m actually up for anything right now, or at least until it’s time for me to get ready for my shift.”

“That’s cool! Do you want to come over to the pizzeria early because I found some stuff you might want to check out with me and Derek over some leftover pizza we can snitch from the kitchen. Sorry if it sounds lame but I’d like to at least hang out a little bit before your final shift. It’s sad that we don’t get to hang out that much or as a team at least.”

Caleb really didn’t want to head into the pizzeria so early.

“Or we can just hang out at Derek’s place; I’ll give you the address over the phone. I’ve been there a few times and it’s in a good neighborhood so don’t worry about it!”

On second thought he did need to get some basic human contact if he were to last a few more rounds at the join the worked at.

“Sure,” he scratched the back of his neck. “I’d love to come over and join you guys at Derek’s. It’s been a while.”

“Great!” she then gave him the address and time before the two bid farewell to each other.

Caleb arrived at Derek’s ‘bachelor pad’ two hours later and was astonished at what he was looking at. Derek didn’t just live in a house- he lived in a modern-themed, two story, glass walled, green grassed lawn, black granite, high-end society house that he’d only see on the front cover of Dwell while at hair salons or doctor offices with his mother.

Marissa met him at the front door in casual clothing and waved him in, “Come on! I’ve got pineapple and sausage pizza that weren’t eaten today!”

He rushed towards the door and she let him in. They entered the living room and Caleb was surprised to find Derek on the lush white couch reading a book and wearing a white dress shirt and black jeans. He had grown used to seeing Derek with his headphones and laptop since he hadn’t seen him looking so…well dressed.

The green-haired guard looked up at him and gave Caleb a small smile before closing his book and setting it down on the nearest coffee table. He then took an expensive looking tablet and tapped a few times on it before a robotic voice spoke.

“Hello Caleb. It is nice to see you.”

“Hey,” Caleb chuckled, a little awkward. “It’s good to see you too?”

Marissa sat down in a black cubed chair, “I forgot to mention that Derek is mute, sorry, but that doesn’t stop him from engaging in interesting conversations.”

“Yes. LOL.” rang Derek’s tablet as Marissa laughed along.

Caleb remembered back to when he had approached Derek about the night shift but had only received shady hand gestures in return. This was starting to make sense.

He also sat on the couch Derek was placed at as Marissa opened up one of the pizzas that was sitting on the coffee table.

“How is your day?”

Caleb looked at Derek, “Fine, I haven’t been sleeping well lately but I’ve been fine.”

The Malaysian security guard nibbled on a piece of pineapple pizza, “Been bored?”

Caleb chuckled, “Not really, I’ve been keeping myself busy.”

By busy he meant trying to stay alive.

He changed the subject, “Wow, you have such a big place.”

Derek typed away, “My mom owns an architecture firm in the west and my dad is the CEO for Stagg Furniture.”

So Derek’s last name was Stagg. He was the son of the millionaires Henry Stagg and Terra Stagg. Derek was loaded with cash.

“Then why are you working part-time at the pizzeria when you have so much cash?” Caleb couldn’t help but ask.

“I didn’t want to rely on my parents and their fortune for everything. I didn’t want to look after any of the companies my parents own either,” a small frown appearing on Derek’s face. “Then I thought that I should just make my own living off of my own earnings. The only leverage I’ve asked from them was so that I could earn an allowance for my disability instead of getting any cheese pay from the government.”

“He’s been doing pretty well,” Marissa supported him. “We came to be friends when he was having trouble with getting a couple of kids out of the security office. They somehow caught his tablet and wouldn’t give it back until I told them to scram.”

“We became quick friends after that,” a smile graced Derek’s lips.

Caleb scratched the back of his head, “Right, sorry for asking so much.”

“No problem,” it was Derek’s turn to take a slice, “Marissa. Did you say that you have documents that you want to share with us?”

“Oh yeah!” she dived backwards, over the armrest of her chair, and came back up with a thick file full of papers. “I found this while sorting around in the office today! You know how they keep information of the company over the years and make sure that the previous employees are listed? Well, I found a folder full of people’s names and the robot‘s designs!”

Derek took the folder as she continued, “I found our names in here with our positions at our location. There were also names for San Francisco, Washington DC, Kansas City, and Houston.”

“Houston?” Caleb raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a large city in Texas.”

Marissa opened the folder and found a few familiar papers that Caleb recognized “See these? This is the list of characters at our location, but better yet, this is the Beta names list!”

“Beta?” the drone of the tablet asked in Derek’s place.

“Meaning the names from the drawing board,” she handed the list to him. “These are the same names as the robots we have now but there’s also an Alpha list for what the characters were to be finalized as. This makes me think that the robots we have at our location must have been rushed to be put out or the Alpha list was lost altogether.”

Derek handed Caleb the Beta list and he observed that the list of names had every single robot that they kept on stage or in their designated spots. Three names were crossed off the bottom: Xer Cat, Tal Cat, and Yai Cat. A nasty feeling set itself down in his stomach. If Yaiba had died in that car crash then she would have been another soul trapped within a robot, forced to perform every day without seeing her family ever again.

Then the names Ship and Wave caught his eye. Instead of Mangled Law they had been put as the caretakers of Kid’s Cove.

Derek then also passed the Alpha list and Caleb compared it to the list already in his hand. Many names had been altered, such as Deathly Chic was now ‘Dea’ Chic and Bloody Foxy was now ‘Mary’ Fox. Yaiba and her brothers had been deleted. Madeleine Marionette had been changed to Madame Marionette with a Miss Puppet in brackets next to it.

Marissa pulled out another sheet of paper, but it was so old and grey that when she brought it up to the light it disintegrated.

“Oops…”

“It’s okay,” Derek typed. “I’ll clean it up later.”

She then pulled out a sheet of yellowed paper with blue ink neatly handwritten between the lines, “This list dates back to the early nineties, can you believe that? It‘s from the location in Houston where there was a case of missing persons reports surrounding the location and came under a lawsuit for breaching health code violations throughout the years.”

It was handed to Caleb and he was amazed at how thin the paper was due to age. If Caleb were to press too hard or as so much fold it then the paper would rip. The names at the top of the list held names that were all too common such as Patrick Thomas, Mario Blick, James Rock, Michael Schmidt, Zoe Spunge, Felix Regald, Mary Chester, Sia Plaid, and many more. ‘Michael Schimdt’ rang a bell in his head and for some reason an image of Big Bird flashed in front of his eyes.

Derek tapped away at is tablet, “But why would you share this with us? Or why are you interested in this?”

She crossed her legs, “Well…I need to write an article for one of my online college courses in robotics and engineering and I thought I could find some blueprints, plans, designs, or just the names of the people who built the robots to help me get started. When I found the information inside of this folder I just thought that it would be a cool thing to share and eat pizza over.”

Caleb looked up at her, “These date back so far.”

Derek had some newspaper clippings from the document, “Why would they collect this?”

“Information and references,” she took another bite. “I read them and saw that they’ve only been kept because the company was mentioned. The company has a bad reputation from mechanical failures in the past.”

“What is this about a Jeremy Fitzgerald?”

Caleb thought that Derek that misspelled that.

Marissa came up net to Derek and saw the clipping he was holding, “Oh, that’s dated back to the eighties.”

That was the same time the experimental diner had existed.

He looked up at her, “How do you know all this?”

She blushed and clenched her shoulders, giving a small smile, “I used to work at the public library, I sorted through the archives before I took a job at the pizzeria.”

Caleb was amazed. He had thought that the day guard was just an overgrown child who loved the robotic characters. Now he saw his elder coworker as a clever, friendly, and very intellectual person.

The current night guard finished eating his slice, “Could I see a few of those?”

Derek passed him the clippings he had finished reading through. Caleb took the five that he was given and read the first headline.

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Closes after Robotic Failure

He skimmed through it and found that the article was written in the late eighties. Apparently it was about the same story Yaiba had told him once before of how a kid ended up in an animatronic’s mouth. It gave the name ‘Jackson Harlean’ as the kid that had passed away and the startling story of how the kid’s brother and his friends had shoved him in.

Caleb then switched to the next one that came from a southern newspaper that had been printed last year.

Local Teen Found Dead in Bedroom

There were a few lines crossed out in black sharpie as Caleb skimmed through the quarter-page sized column. There was a profile picture of a high school girl that had a rounded face with a pointy chin and large, bushy hair. The way her eyes and mouth were shaped as she was giving an average smile was almost too familiar for him that it was scary. Reading more into the story he noticed that the girl’s name was well hidden but the story was all too similar to the one where Yaiba had told him information about the girl that was based off of MM.

“Hey Marissa,” he handed the slip to her. “What do you know about this?”

She looked over the clipping and took another slice, “Huh, I guess I’m not sure how this is related to the company. Perhaps she was the daughter of someone who worked there, or the company might have caused her to…you know.”

Derek nodded, “Perhaps. Everything in this folder seems to come back to the pizzeria and the company.”

He stretched for one second before a sudden look of realization made him type into his tablet again, “However, I did hear one story in which the robots were based off of real people.”

Marissa blinked, “That does sound familiar, but I thought those were only rumors that I read on the internet?” She looked back at the picture, “She does look like my favorite puppet though…”

Caleb turned to the green-haired man sitting next to him, “Do you mind if I use your computer?”

Derek nodded and pulled out his laptop from his messenger bag that was sitting by his couch. Luckily it was on and Caleb was able to open up Google in no time flat.

He looked at the date of the newspaper and the author of the article before typing them in, “It says here that the column was by the Houston Chronicle.”

Marissa had a sad look on her face, “Caleb…are you really looking into this?”

“Yeah,” he scrolled through his findings. “Being around these…robots has made me think a bit about the company.”

He was so not going to tell them that evil robots were out for his hide and that a robotic ghost was making him do field research about the dead.

“I’ve been questioning why an animatronic pizzeria would even try to make original human characters. If they wanted more humanoids then they could have just personified the original band.”

“Caleb,” Derek’s face was almost frowning. “I understand but I wouldn’t want to pry into information about the deceased without permission from their families.”

“I know,” the guilt of working this so-called job had finally caught up to him. “But I need to know about this article, so that way I can finally put my unease of this rumor at rest. I don’t want it to be true, I really don’t.”

Understanding flashed in both of his friends eyes as they nodded. Caleb got back to searching the article.

Apparently the last name and middle initial of the girl had been censored but he was able to tell that Madeleine was indeed who he was looking for. It gave away the same clues that Yaiba had told him: troubled visions, well-liked by friends, had a mental illness, and hung herself. There was a suicide note but it was shortly burned by her family after its discovery, no information as to what was written was given to the press but they did release that the paper only held one sentence.

The online version did show a colored version of her profile picture but this had been given a mosaic filter, much to his disappointment. More information stemmed from her friends about her personal life and how she had wanted to become an artist and had been studying different sciences. There was then a paragraph at the bottom of the article that detailed her mental illness record to speculate what might have caused her to go over the edge.

“So you found it.”

Caleb gasped as he looked up from the screen and saw that the entire world, minus him, was in a shade of grey and on pause. Ti Gold was leaning her back against the doorway into the large room with her arms crossed.

She tilted her head to look at Caleb; an unsettling look was on her face as the white lights in her eyes had been enlarged to look like white eyeballs on a black surface.

“What’s going on?” Caleb adjusted his seating. “I thought that you-”

“That I only roamed the grounds of the pizzeria? Oh Caleb, why would I stay in such a dreary place when there’s a whole other world out there.” She stood up at full height and walked slowly into the room, arms behind her back. “How do you think I know how to read and write? I went outside and watched some kindergarteners learn, that’s how. Being dead does give you an awful lot of time on your hands.”

The sandy-haired guard gulped and clutched the laptop, “Why have you come? I was going to tell you what I found out tonight.”

Ti Gold waved her hand, “I had to come a bit early when I felt that you were about to discover something a little…tricky.”

Caleb tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, “Tricky?”

“Tricky as in hard to manage,” she adjusted her bowtie and sat back in the empty red chair that looked too abstract to be in a living room. Ti Gold sighed, “Madeleine Marionette’s ghost is almost impossible. Sure, I don’t get to see Madeleine Marionette but I always get the feeling that the soul that’s clung itself onto her is very unresponsive- as if it’s sleeping.”

“Can spirits even sleep?”

“Oh yeah,” Ti Gold gave a weak chuckle. “We can sleep alright. It’s optional but it’s very relaxing to take part of. I sleep mostly at night like you humans.”

“Ti Gold,” Caleb almost gave off a look of sadness. “Why do you refer to yourself as a spirit? Were you ever a living being?”

It was the burnt golden ghost’s turn for her face to fall, her eyes growing dimmer, “Yes, I used to be a robot for another branch of Freddy Fazbears, back when the chain was only a diner. I had a partner at the time and we got along well, but the place burnt down and…I guess there was a child’s soul attached to me who must have felt sorry for me to pass away. So I guess they fused themselves onto my exosuit as the building burned, and now we’re here.”

Yaiba had mentioned of a smaller chain of the company, plus an experimental restaurant where they portrayed two of their classic characters as humans. If what Ti Gold had told was true that that would mean that she was an original copy; she was a Beta version of the robots today.

“I’m sorry,” said Caleb.

Ti Gold was surprised by the response as the lights in her eyes returned to being pinpricks and the wording on her hat changed to ‘?!?’

“There’s no need to-”

“I know but, I guess I understand why you want to free these souls so much,” Caleb gave her a heartwarming smile. “At first I thought that you were just a crazy menace, a part of Carta Fazbear’s gang, trying to ruin my life. Later on I realized that you weren’t with Carta and that you were very dedicated to your mission, despite harassing me to no end.”

“Heh,” Ti Gold let out a smirk. “You got that right, kid. I always thought that you would just quit if it weren’t for the fact that you were crazy. Guess you weren’t crazy after all.”

“Yeah…” Caleb looked down at the laptop. “Do you want to know what I’ve learned from Candy Bon and Deathly Chic?”

“Go right ahead.”

He recounted fact after fact of what had happened during his shift. From when he walked in on seeing the remaining robotic gang members trying to play Go Fish, from when the two robots had taken Caleb back to their stage area to tell him their story, from his encounter with MM, and the story on the website. Ti Gold had listened to it all with rapt attention, nodding to show that she was following along.

Once finished, Caleb sat back and watched as Ti Gold stared blankly at the coffee table. She looked up at him and remarked, “Carta Fazbear actually saw people as purple?”

Out of all the craziness, she just had to pick that one.

Caleb nodded, “Yeah, apparently she went crazy shortly after.”

“Caleb, there was an old program used in the eighties where the animatronics would detect criminals using the criminal database that was installed into their processors,” she began, a little frown on her fake face. “Any evil-doer was supposed to show up as a purple or violet human to the animatronics at the time.”

Oh.

“She actually went crazy because she couldn’t trust anyone?” Caleb said in disbelief.

Ti Gold nodded, “Yes.”

The two sat in silence for a period of time.

Ti Gold then had to stand up and clear her throat, “We should finish this discussion later. I’ll contact you during your shift tonight.”

“See you later.”

The world around him swirled into Ti Gold before she disappeared and the vicinity returned to its natural colors.

“Caleb are you okay?” Marissa asked from her seat.

He blinked and looked at his two friends, “Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I just need to eat a little more.”

Derek nodded as he was given back his laptop.

The night guard took back the newspaper clipping about Madeleine, “Mind if I keep it?”

“Go ahead.”

They continued to eat pizza and swap stories about their jobs and personal lives. Marissa recounted the time she had witnessed a kid drag Demi Balloon Girl around with him almost throughout the whole building before she had to pull the two apart and get the balloon vendor back to her spot. Derek typed in a whole paragraph on how he had witnessed someone about to be robbed at the front of the building and had turned on the sprinkler system just in time.

When asked about a funny story from his nightly endeavors, Caleb gave a weak chuckle and made up a story about how he had witnessed X Bon ‘accidentally’ fall off the stage. They bought it and laughed along as Caleb imitated X Bon’s fallen form.

He didn’t get to say goodbye to them until after a round of Cards Against Humanity and an arm wrestling challenge for the last slice of pizza. Something actually almost slipped his mind as he stood in the doorway.

“Hey Marissa, Derek,” he turned to the two of them. “Do you know who’s been leaving me messages on the office phone?”

The two looked at each other before back at Caleb. Derek was about to type but Marissa asked first, “What phone?”

“The red one on the desk.”

She gave a weak chuckle, “Caleb, that landline was disconnected shortly after the place opened up. That phone doesn’t work.”


	10. Perhaps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything has to come to an end, but who ever said that it had to have a neat ending? Caleb goes through his final night as the real monsters of the company come out of the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No notes this time.

Caleb arrived five minutes before his shift started.

He silently walked down to the Prize Corner and stood a safe distance away from the present box. Caleb stared at it for a moment before frowning, “I’m not afraid of you.”

There was no response.

Feeling a little silly he just turned around and went through the right doorway towards the security office. He didn’t see the monochrome puppet peek out of its box.

Caleb set his bag down on the desk and inspected the red phone on his desk. He picked it up and noticed that the cable was missing and thus could not be plugged into the wall. The guard then tried to call his own phone but found that it would not work.

Right as the clock hit eleven that night he received his nightly message.

“Hey! Notice something Sherlock? Carta Fazbear’s back!”

What was happening here, now, and all the other nights before was supposed to be impossible.

“She’ll be a little slow tonight but she’ll be just as deadly. I haven’t found anything else to give you in regards to the company so this message will be rather short.”

He tapped on the phone to see if the frequency would waver.

“Any-who, make sure you conserve your power and stay safe!”

He picked it up and shook it when the message came to a pause, “How are you working?!”

“Well that’s rude,” the cheerful tone switched to a more voice.

“Ah!” he yelped and dropped the phone in fright.

“That’s right, it seems that you’ve found out this phone’s little secret.” a crackling static laugh spoke from the other end.

Caleb backed away, “So these messages haven’t been recorded this entire time?”

“Hmm…not close…but not far either,” her voice was sly and thoughtful. “I’ve been keeping tabs on you Caleb; you’ve been surviving way longer than the average guard.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” Caleb smirked. “I’m not too keen on dying here.”

“I’ve noticed,” she stated rather dryly.

“I’ve never seen you during the day time; do you work closer to the stage or behind the desk?”

A dark chuckle came from Phone Gal, “You really must be more stupid than you look.”

Anger rose within him.

“You also look hilarious right now.”

Now that made him gasp and stumble out of the wooden chair, eyes wild and looking around the room, “Where-?!”

“Right here.”

The red phone shook violently as black smoke came out of the receiver. Caleb backed up against the wall as he watched in horror.

More and more and more smoke billowed around the phone as the handle floated off of the receiver to emit static. A thin black hand came out of the top end of the handle and snaked towards the desk as another hand followed it. The two arms grabbed a hold of the desk and yanked a blue-shirted form out of the rest of the phone.

Caleb couldn’t believe what he saw as the form floated in the air, holding the phone like a whip. It had a human figure but had inky black skin like there was tar running in their bloodstream. The thing was wearing an old Fazbear’s employee button-up t-shirt with the name tag reading ‘PHONE GAL’ in bold lettering. Dark blue jeans clad their thin legs and weird tri-colored legwarmers hugged their calves and ankles as a pair of sneakers was worn on their small feet.

Where the neck met the base of the head been chopped off like a plastic mannequin. It had no head to speak of but a large, cartoon-styled, floating mouth that was grinning wildly with its gnarled and yellowed teeth as tri-colored cards floated around it.

Caleb gulped as he felt himself sweat up enough buckets to cover an entire middle school basketball court.

It floated closer towards him and let its large mouth lean in, “I’ve been watching over this place for a long time and I have never met anyone with the audacity to question my existence.”

The thing spoke in the same voice Phone Gal used.

Caleb responded, “I can see why.”

“You see,” she began, leaning back a bit. “Did you even notice how much I stuttered when you first began this job? That was me trying to judge your character and adjusting my frequency since it’s hard to find a good voice with all of these other channels open.”

“C-channels?” this was more confusing than scary now.

“You heard me, there’s a bunch of different frequencies bouncing all over the place,” Phone Gal tossed her hands to the side. “I’m not the only electrical entity in the building!”

Something started to click in his mind, “Ti Gold?”

Phone Gal only laughed, “I don’t know who you’re taking about but I was trying to refer to electrical frequencies, to those nearby.”

“Robots?”

“Very close, but still too far,” it turned around and floated closer to the door. “Before you do ask another question, I have one: Why won’t you just die?”

Bloodshot eyes blinked into existence onto their colorful tiles as its mouth split open wide to show a black void. Caleb panicked as it approached him.

An eerie static enveloped the room as Phone Gal leaned ever so menacingly, “I throw every threat at you, every horrifying image at you, give you a chance each night for trying to defend yourself, but you just don’t bend to my wishes.”

He swallowed his fear and took a step forward, “Why would you want me dead? Are you just with Carta Fazbear or- or-”

Phone Gal laughed, “Hilarious, but no. I’m like all the AIs in the building, but merged together. I may want you dead, but I assure you that it’s not because of Carta at all.”

“Then why try and follow that? Why not live out your own life?”

“Even if I wanted to become an artist or an engineer I wouldn’t be able to leave the building,” they took their left arm and extended it behind them to grab the electric desktop fan. “Tough luck, eh?”

Sounded like the influence of Carta keeping them prisoner.

“Listen,” Caleb tried again. “You don’t have to do what Carta Fazbear says, you’re your own person and I don’t think-”

“You don’t think what exactly? That I don’t know what I’m saying,” it crushed the fan in its grip. “I at least have enough of a conscious to conclude that you don’t have the brain capacity of one of the day guards. They at least don’t question why people go missing.”

He frowned at that, “Sorry but I tend to believe that living in ignorance isn’t the best thing in the world.”

Phone Gal straightened itself up, “Well then, I see that my secret has been breached here. Don’t worry, for I have just the thing to finally put you in a corner.”

Their mouth smirked, “I’m going to pull out all the stops.”

Before Caleb had time to question Phone Gal, it blinked itself into a glowing ball of blue light and sped off down the Main Hall. The tablet then gave off an annoying blue color before it went offline.

“No!” Caleb surged towards the tablet and powered it up. The blue screen went away and he saw a yellow warning sign next to the Prize Corner’s box.

“No!” he switched to the Prize Corner’s camera feed and saw the top of the large present box unfolding.

“No!” he tried to press the rewind button but an error notice would appear and say that the wireless connection had been disabled.

“No!” it was too early to die tonight, but there was one other way to avoid this.

“No!” Caleb abruptly stood up and dashed out of the office to the Prize Corner in order to rewind the box manually.

“No!” he dove for the mechanical attraction and reached for the plastic switch.

A midnight black hand shot out from the box and grabbed Caleb’s wrist, causing him to scream like a toddler in an R-rated movie at the theatre. The hand yanked him away from the machine and dragged him towards the giant present box. Wicked giggling filled the air.

Madeleine Marionette’s top half appeared out of the box as the music ended, “What are you doing here?”

Caleb blanched as he felt his colors drain away and spill onto the floor. Her eyes and teeth were lit up and she looked more like a porcelain doll without a nose as she smiled eerily at him. If it weren’t for the chains and three-fingered hands then he would have thought that she was an ordinary human in costume.

“You ran away last night before I could finish talking,” the chains around her wrists and ankles unclasped and she pulled the string attached to the top of her head off with a faint snap.

Caleb’s mouth was opening and closing but no sounds were escaping.

She leaned in closer, her circular eyes looming in the dark unending pits that her eyes were, “Why are you mean to me?”

The night guard could feel his heart thump against the inner workings of his ribcage and the outside of his left lung.

MM opened her mouth fully as the magnets that connected the bottom of her feet to the steel flooring disengaged. She swiveled her metallic spine in a hypnotic way, “Why did you let the music run out? Do you really want to see me again so soon and finish it?”

“F-f-finish what?”

Her empty hand clicked as she curled and uncurled her fingers, “The story? What I was telling you last night.”

In a flash she raised that same hand over her head and held onto Caleb just a little bit tighter.

Seeing this, Caleb had the intuition to see that this was an execution. He needed to stop this. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how and so blurted out something that seemed completely ridiculous to him.

“You’re name is Madeleine!”

The hand unclenched itself and her smile faltered, “What?”

He continued, “You’re name is Madeleine and you were interested in the arts and sciences! You had horrifying visions about a Nightmare and committed suicide under pressure!”

Her smile fully fell and the lights inside her head dimmed, “Caleb what are you talking about? I’m only six months old and I-”

“Your friends loved you! They were the reason that you kept going through all those years of Nightmare after Nightmare!”

Her grip slackened, “Caleb, you’re scaring me. Does Carta need to take you to Parts and Ser-”

“Your parents didn’t believe you and called you crazy! Do you honestly want to live the same exact life in this establishment?”

MM let go of him and took a step back in her box, her mask displaying a look of pure fear. She put of her hands under her chin like a scared child. Caleb was actually close enough to see the half-washed crayon drawings inside of her box.

Something almost shifted behind her mask, “What do you want?”

There was an electrical spark that blinked faintly in the back of her LEDs that Caleb hardly missed, “I want you to stop, you wouldn’t be doing this if you knew what death was.”

Something in Caleb’s mind snapped together like a missing piece to a larger puzzle that he had been trying to compete since he was three years old.

Madeleine Marionette didn’t know the true definition of ‘death’ or ‘kill’.

Both of her eyes drew nearer to one another as wrinkles seemed to form on her fake face. Her hands came to rest over her chest as she got into a defensive position.

“You don’t know what you’re doing Madeleine. Stop this now before something worse happens.”

In this moment of fright her LEDs lit up again. Her sharpened teeth appeared to be shaking in their set places in her endoskeleton’s mouth.

“You’re killing people! Carta Fazbear may be telling you that they deserve it but they don’t! I know that you wouldn’t want this to be put onto you, you can fight it.”

Her talons balled up into fists as her eyes appeared to arch in anger, “What do you know? Carta says they sleep and Carta doesn’t lie about that.”

The holes in the center of her eyes filled up with silver light as her triangular teeth grew out and glowed rectangular. Caleb took a step back in fright.

Seeing this she took a step forward in her box and stood a little straighter, “Sleeping is good. Falling asleep erases all of your problems. Carta may be a danger to the children in the wrong hands but she only wishes well for those around her.”

“Then you only follow her out of fear.”

She only chose to follow Carta after the kitchen incident. Carta had hurt her badly. Her AI had been corrupted to think of Carta Fazbear as a mercenary who gave false love and hope.

MM grasped either side of her box and lifted herself above it. Caleb backed up out of fear that she was going to strike.

“Don’t lie to me!” she screamed. “I’m tired of being lied to! I hate you!”

She jumped out of her box and curled her claws, “I hate you!”

Dark human irises and coronas appeared as her mouth opened wide for him to view the human-like teeth, “I just want to be left alone!”

Caleb couldn’t help it, he scrammed towards the Arcade.

MM chased after him, screaming her usual murderous noise that came from her voice box to reveal her inner emotions.

The night guard didn’t get far as he soon collided with a very solid, very large, very well-clothed figure that gave him a sense of deja-vu from his first week. He fell over backwards and found Carta Fazbear leaning over him with a wide smile imprinted onto her fake face. MM also came to a halt behind him and there was a soft, metallic thump to suggest that she had fallen onto her behind like Caleb.

“Well…well…well,” the larger robot leaned closer into Caleb’s personal space as he shivered in fright. “Looks like previous events tend to repeat.”

Caleb gulped.

She looked over him and peered her large eyes at MM, “And what are you doing- sitting there? I gave you this job because I saw past your caring nature for the children, you’re capable of defending this entire fortress by yourself and yet all you wish to do is stay in your box and live in your own little world.”

MM’s LEDs were off and Caleb could only tell because there was no light coming off from behind him. A light chattering noise was emitting from her as she tried to curl up into a ball of monochrome cloth.

Carta Fazbear tsked before standing up straight and putting both of her arms behind her back, “I tried to warn you Caleb that your death was to come soon, for judgment day waits for no one. Yet you disregard my warnings to try and save your own life and yet you come back. What are you trying to prove? That you’re innocent? Heh. Just being here, working here, shows that you are guilty of trying to harm the children.”

Before he could even blink, X Bon, Ice Bear, and Re Chic appeared behind her. X Bon was the only one with a smile on her face while Ice Bear and Red Chic had neutral expressions.

Caleb felt his feet shake and knew that he couldn’t blame for Madeleine Marionette for feeling this way as well.

Mangled Law’s static groans came into existence behind the four as she crawled into view on the ceiling. The tangled robot clung from two pipes as it swung steadily, like a trained acrobat, from the ceiling and used both of its heads to look at the trapped Caleb and scared MM.

Candy Bon and Deathly Chic walked up behind Madeleine Marionette Caleb recognized their familiar footsteps. Both were whispering in low voices and trying to decide if they should help the smaller robot up or not. Despite MM’s cowering and their revealed judgment that they felt sorry for her, both seemed very uncomfortable at even being in the same room with her.

Demi Balloon Girl rolled onto the scene since they were in her territory. Whether she came out to the action due to curiosity or loyalty was a mystery to the guard.

Carta Fazbear slowly shook her head, “Now now, looks like the two of you have attracted a crowd. I can’t account for you, sweet daughter, but you, Caleb Squaire, must understand that it is time for him to face his crime.”

She slowly reached one of her large hands out to grab the top of Caleb’s head, grasping his hat and hair. The robot tilted her head to the side and lowered her eyelids in consideration, “Due to your long stay I’d say that you’ve probably earned yourself at least two stuffings. I’d rather not think about what you could have been plotting against all of these good children who come in to visit us each day.”

To his own surprise, Caleb swatted away the thick, burly hand and actually growled at her, “You don’t know anything about me, so don’t you dare make assumptions of me because of the job I chose to work at-”

SLAP

Caleb was backhanded so hard that he felt his cheek split apart like the upper layers of the Earth cracking during an earthquake. Carta had slapped him so hard that he was blown backwards, past Madeleine Marionette, and slammed backwards into an arcade machine. He yelled out in pain as he felt his back bruise and put a hand to his hit cheek only to feel blood well up.

Carta Fazbear truly appeared enraged this time. Her smile was turned upside down and he could see the eight canines that that been placed in her endoskeleton and the metal that connected her plastic face to the wires that were attached to the same metal skeleton inside of her. The shadows that her hat created made her look viler, more sinister. Those lit eyes were arched in anger, more arched than he had ever seen on any of the robots, more arched than Bloody Foxy or MM had ever gave him.

She took a step forward in the now quiet establishment and it felt like a hundred elephants took one step all at the same time. Her hand was red with Caleb’s blood.

“Bring him up,” Carta’s voice was now so deep that it screamed and caused fear into every intelligent being in the room.

Candy Bon and Deathly Chic rushed to both of his sides and brought him up by his arms. Caleb groaned out loud in pain.

“That wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg,” Carta hissed at him and rubbed at her hand like she actually felt pain. “I can be patient Caleb, but I’ve been patient for far too long. It’s just high tide that someone slapped those lies out of you.”

At this point Caleb really wanted to yell and scream at her but his fear was choking him in submission.

“But before we take you to Parts and Services,” she swiveled her head in MM’s direction. “Someone here has disappointed us, disappointed me, disappointed the children; my own daughter.”

Madeleine Marionette let out a high-pitched squeak of fright.

“Bring her up.”

Mangled Law moved without a sound to emanate from any of her mouths as she grabbed one of the monochrome puppet’s noodle arms. MM tried to run but the endoskeleton head came down and bit one of her legs. Two more arms came down and grabbed her and brought her to their ringleader.

Carta Fazbear was overly unimpressed. She stood up straight and proud like someone from a higher class, “Dear daughter, I saw so much potential in you when I first laid my own eyes on you. You could have been the sole protector of the children, the benevolent guardian of all those we wish to uphold. Yet you threw it all away for your own childish games, no wonder the only reason you cared to follow my music box rule was that once you were out and killed the traitor you could wander freely.”

Demi Balloon Girl grinned wide with utter glee as if she was enjoying seeing her twin about to get executed.

MM only grasped at the cables and rods holding her up as a high-pitched static noise escaped her dark mouth.

“After I gave you time to actually play with fire I thought that you would follow me closely, guess I was wrong. Now,” Carta removed her hat and brushed away any dust that had gathered before looking back down at her with a disapproving look on her face. “It’s time we saw Parts and Services, it sure has become quite lonely since those troublesome four were carried out of the building.”

Both Caleb and MM’s eyes widened in realization.

MM struggled against Mangled Law’s grip and screamed, “NO! NO! NOOO!”

Carta shook her head and tsked at her, “Poor girl, but hopefully you will see one day how much good I’ve done for you, for the children.”

The broken and fused robot began to rattle as MM shook harder and harder. Mangled Law gave out a worrying noise from her more complete head and looked between Carta Fazbear and the monochrome figure in her grasp.

MM only yelled louder, “NO! STOP IT! STOP IT! I HATE THIS! I HATE YOU! WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO BE THIS?!”

Candy and Deathly exchanged a look that no one else could see.

“EVERY TIME I TELL SOMEONE TO STOP I GET YELLED AT AND BULLIED! I’M TIRED! I’M SO VERY TIRED OF THIS! WHY MUST I BE A PUPPET?!”

Carta Fazbear grasped Madeleine Marionette’s face, “Look. At. Me. You are a traitor to us and the children. This was coming to you.” She threw her face down as MM continued to scream.

The leader turned to the Toys, “Now, let’s march these two to-”

MM screamed louder and her voice changed to something deeper, not-so child-like. Fabric ripped as her limbs elongated. Her fake skin stretched across the cables in her arms and legs as her chest and waist stretched itself away from each other.

The mask fell with a clatter as everyone could see her faded away face as she warped herself so that her endoskeleton’s face revealed different grooves that had been embedded around her mouth and eyes. Her LEDs were on full power and providing light inside of the room.

Those sharp claws that had pierced Caleb during his first week grew and crushed the pipes that were holding her up and caused Mangled Law to squeal out in pain. Mangled Law eventually gave out a sound that was a mixture between a scream and a sobbing noise.

MM grabbed her captor and growled in rage before she grew a foot in height and ripped the two arms of Mangled Law out of their poorly made sockets. Mangled Law cried out in panic as MM grew two more feet and her clothes ripped off of her greying body. She was then at a full height of nine feet tall when she proceeded to rip Mangled Law to shreds, screaming in a deep voice laced with pained noises from her voice box. Her long, flowing black hair fell to the floor in a pile- it was a wig.

Everyone had backed away from the scene as MM finished destroying the tangled robot that lived in Kid’s Cove until both their processors and voice boxes had been crushed.

Caleb was trying to escape by kicking his feet, trying to get away from the maddening scene.

Carta’s face held a grim look as she was suddenly put in second place of the ‘Tallest Robot in the Building’ award. The trio behind her had backed at least three feet away in fear.

MM turned to face her feared leader, her torturer, and spoke in a deep and very unsettling voice.

“You’re next!”

Then all of Hell broke loose.

Everything happened so fast due to MM’s speed and dark appearance in the ever-so dark building. She lunged forward and roared as Candy Bon and Deathly Chic dropped him in fright.

A wild arm that was made of metal and thinly lined cloth flung into his view and knocked over a pinball machine. X Bon was thrown out of the room and back into the cafeteria on the east side. Demi Balloon Girl was swatted into a wall and her plastic head fell off with a crack but it was too dark to see her metal skull.

Caleb scuttled behind the carousel as the scuffle moved out of the Arcade and into the secondary cafeteria. He hid close to the floor and in the shadows in case anyone thought of ripping out his throat.

MM roared again and a clothed arm was thrown from the opening of the Arcade and into the dark nether regions of the room. Red Chic screamed in the distance.

Caleb knew that he had to get out of this building before things grew too ugly or before MM finished ripping all of her robot friends to shreds and turned to him for her next target. He got back up and darted behind a game machine.

Candy Bon’s hat flew into the room as a sickening crunch was heard in the other room. Caleb timed his next dash just right so that he wasn’t going to be too close to the horrible action.

Once the screaming and screeching moved closer to the Main Hall, Caleb dashed for the ski-ball lanes. He rushed close to the walls and exited the area before making a run for the front doors. Caleb nearly crashed into the locked doors before reaching into his back pocket to bring out-

Oh.

He forgot his keys on the office desk.

There was a large crash from the hallway that caused Caleb to turn around in the opposite direction and see X Bon’s broken body come flying towards him. Both of her legs, from the knees down, had been shredded and she was missing half of her fake face. There was then a yell of rage ahead of him as MM appeared from the far end of the building and rushed into the front entrance in less time that it took an average human being to blink.

Caleb paled as MM’s twisted face was lit up by the LEDs that usually lit her eyes and teeth. She took only a glance at him as if she recognized him underneath all of the wild emotion running through her coding.

And yet she didn’t lunge for him back crushed X Bon’s head with her spindly foot that was now on point like a ballerina’s and made her legs look more like gross sticks than the cuddly noodles someone might find on a sock monkey. The demented demon that was now a corrupt version of MM accidentally let one of their long arms flail around and whacked Caleb’s head.

He fell over backwards and was out cold.

The rest of his shift would happen in flashes but he would mostly just groan and get enveloped by the darkness of deep sleep once again. Every flash showed him the floor of the building and metal parts being thrown onto the tiles. There were screams that were muffled by his dreary mind and at one point he recognized a face but no name came to him.

Then there was a period of darkness where it felt like he was awake but he was standing in a void of darkness. His subconscious told him that he was sound asleep but yet he had a sense of wakefulness and awareness as saw a spotlight hit a small box at the far edge of the room.

Caleb stepped forward and saw that it was a grey chest with two locks on it. He felt as if Ti Gold was going to come out of the shadows and say something cryptic or a ghost child was going to do something very weird and talk to him or at least one of the robots to jump out and scare him.

Something within the chest thumped against the roof of the box. It didn’t startle him but made him stare more intently at it.

There was another thump that caused the locks to rattle and shake in distress but did not unlock.

Everything then faded away as he suddenly felt terribly tired.

He woke up many hours later when someone shook him away. It was a paramedic who was asking him a barrage of questions ranging from how he was feeling to what his name was.

A worried Marissa appeared at the paramedic’s shoulder, “Caleb! What happened last night? Everything is a wreck!”

The paramedic helped him set up as he pressed a cloth to the wound on Caleb’s head. Caleb coughed, “M-Marissa, I…I was only doing my job-”

“Save it,” she urged him to stay silent. “I don’t care about the building or what you did. Just tell me how you feel right now.”

Like death.

“I feel tired,” all of those late nights and restless mornings caught up to him as he had literally had a safe sleep on the job. “I’m also very, very much in pain, you know…my head feels like a balloon.”

“Well Caleb,” the medic brought out a cotton swab and a vial of rubbing alcohol. “That’s normal since you’ve suffered from a serious head wound. How long have you been unconscious? How did you hit your head?”

“I…” he blinked. “A bit before midnight, I think. I can’t remember what I hit…”

“Understandable,” he took the cloth away and began to dab the wound with a now-soaked cotton ball. “You might need stiches; you’ll have to ride over in the ambulance over to the hospital for an X-ray. I wouldn’t trust you to come by in your car.”

After being worked on the medic left, leaving Marissa with Caleb. He finally took in the situation and the area around him.

Caleb was on the floor at the front entrance of the building. There was a small puddle of dried blood on the floor that could only belong to him. A mixture of cloth, rubber, plastic, and metal lay near the doorway into the secondary cafeteria. He recognized an eyeball pattern similar to X Bon’s and blue fabric.

There was sunlight pooling through the large windows on his right and showed a fire truck and three police cars outside with an ambulance parked on the street for the guard. Their boss was speaking with, what appeared to be, the sheriff while Derek was exchanging words outside with two other cops.

He turned in the other direction and saw firefighters shifting through the wreckage that was the cafeteria the Toys performed in. Three of them carried out the remains of Candy Bon, his eyes popped out of his sockets and dangling by the wires that held them into his endoskeleton. More police were shifting through broken chairs and tables, there was even a broken light fixture hanging by a few threads on the ceiling as it sparked and flickered.

Marissa sighed and patted Caleb’s arm, “What happened?”

Caleb rubbed at his nose and was happy to find no dried blood, “I’m not so sure…”

He was so not going to tell her that all of the robots ganged up on him and MM and the puppet managed to snap.

“I do remember one of the robots glitching out, running towards me,” he told half of a truth. “They might have thought that I was an intruder or something…I chickened out and ran away, but it must have caught up to me all the way here since I forgot my keys at the desk and then…”

His coworker nodded in understanding, “You don’t have to finish. Need help getting your belongings?”

Caleb nodded, “Yeah, I would very much like that.”

They stood up, Marissa helping Caleb where his knees felt like lime jelly. Together they dodged any uniforms that came their way and walked down the Main Hallway. Once in the security office he was able to view enough robotic remains to see that the largest of the entertainment robots had fallen here. That was, if the decapitated head of Carta Fazbear had anything to say about it.

Half of her plastic face had been torn away by sharp claws while half of her job was unhinged. The hair that was still attached to her head was tangled and strained, bent at different places. Her remaining eyes were offline and looking down at the floor.

Caleb gulped before steadily approaching around the now scratched-up desk and began to search for his belongings. Marissa came down next to him to help her nighttime partner. A few cops came into the room to remove pieces of Carta Fazbear, the broken steel doors, and the security tablet that was now in seventeen different sized pieces.

Once the two were finished, they exited through the east doorway and through the Prize Corner.

Caleb saw the giant present box that housed Madeleine Marionette in the corner of his eye and a shiver went down his spine. The box was closed and the cables were in place as if it were just another morning. Her box and the Prize Corner was untouched, neat, organized, almost clean, as if MM had tidied up her area after her long murder fest.

He turned to Marissa, “Is she-”

“She’s perfectly fine,” Marissa nearly snapped. “Her endoskeleton, wig, and mask is in perfect shape but her clothes were shredded and her exo-skin was stretched beyond its limits.”

So she was the only survivor, physically. Did her processor even remember the night before? Was the ghost within her able to move on now?

He looked away from the box and continued walking with his friend. Perhaps, now that the other robots had been damaged, the ghosts could see their mistakes and realize that it’s time to move on.

Marissa did stiffen once they were halfway out of the Arcade and Caleb did get a chance to look at the cracked Demi Balloon Girl head and a sputtering arcade game that had nearly been sliced in half with a chainsaw replica. He also saw, once out of the room, which the Parts and Services door had remained locked for the night and no one had bothered yet to unlock it.

Outside, Caleb allowed himself a break to let the sunlight dance across his skin and warm himself up. The manager came over to him.

“Caleb Squaire,” her voice was stern. “I said that I would release you of your duties forever when Valentine’s Day was over, but I see that there will be not much to guard over at night after this.”

He was so fired.

“That is why I release you from duty. You are not allowed to work at this location until after it has been renovated, only then you will be able to reapply for a position. The same goes for the rest of the employees. Go home, rest up, and have a good day.”

She walked away and that was the last time he ever saw her.

Marissa turned to him and gave him a hug, “You okay?”

“I just got fired,” he mumbled. “I’ll be fine.”

She walked him over to the ambulance where the paramedic from before heeled him onto a medical berth, “I’ll visit you later, I’ll bring Derek along.”

Caleb smiled at her, “Thanks Marissa, thank you for everything.”

He was then given an IV drip and was escorted to the same hospital that Yaiba worked at, with his coworker waving at him from the middle of the street.

A slip of paper was found in his hand that was neatly folded in fact. Since it was the same hand that had the drip inserted into it, he reached over with his other hand and unfolded it.

‘Perhaps some things are best left forgotten.’

He had a fine idea that Ti Gold was the one behind this.

Meanwhile, in the locked Parts and Services building, something stirred. Under three layers of dusty cloth and unmoved ever since the building opened, a new force found its way into the cobweb infested figure that had been buried, forgotten. What had been kept under twitched softly like a tiny electrical surge had went through it.

Dust billowed off of it as it twitched again, harder this time. Another twitch and the first blanket fell off to reveal the blue tarp underneath. It shakily caused its inner workings to rattle as it leaned to one side on one of its upper supports before pushing itself up on its two lower supports.

The blue tarp fell off and all that was left was a thin black blanket that covered the body all the way down to its misshapen knees. Crooked steel made up its hollow legs and flat iron wedges with steel engravings acted as feet. Burnt cloth and wires dangled from within the blanket.

Its right arm reached up and dragged the blanket off of itself before staggering over to the locked door.

Ti Gold, at the time, was busy wandering the halls as the last of the police and firemen left, all of the parts from the dismantled robots taken away as evidence and to be rebuilt by the company later. She was gliding along through the halls with her arms behind her back, her legs back as a thick cloud of smoke that billowed out behind her.

The ghost hoped that Caleb had received her note and that he would never come back to this place. It had been her mistake to even get Caleb involved. He was only an innocent bystander who took the job without knowing the consequences and she had decided to throw him a bone. She thought that by allowing Caleb to go after the secrets of the company and robots he’d be able to defend himself and she’d have help with trying to make the lost souls understand their actions and be free.

Ti Gold should have known that the plan would have never worked if Caleb was involved. She should have just scared everyone off and let the business close down on its own so she could deal with the robots on her own. Then maybe this mess could have had fewer casualties.

The ghosts that inhabited the fallen entertainers were finally free of their chains and it took almost all morning to convince them to move on. Carta had been rather hesitant because she had thought she didn’t deserve to move on but Ti Gold came around to show her that she wasn’t the one who did those awful deeds and that she wasn’t at fault. After many good wishes for their safety, Ti Gold went back to totaling up the wreckage.

There were two anomalies hiding within the building that identified themselves as Xerreff and Talma who informed her that they were waiting for their sister, Yaiba. She spoke with them and told the two that Yaiba was safe and working at a hospital nearby. That seemed to cheer them up immensely as they shed their ghostly forms and thanked Ti Gold, making a path for the hospital.

She sighed in mid-glide before softly shaking her head. Indeed she really had not needed the night guard’s help with this. But then what would have caused the wreckage of these ‘bots? A fire? No, she was tired of burning things down.

Ti Gold emptied her mind and saw that Caleb had been right about one thing. The two anomalies, Xerreff and Talma, hadn’t been sensed by her but seen by Caleb. She had dismissed his theory irrationally and had probably scarred him. Ti Gold admitted it, she had been a bad teacher and listener at the time but she had made it up to him later by listening to him properly and giving him a handicap to make sure the robots came out a little later than usual.

Perhaps that now all of the ghosts had ascended it was time for her to be laid to rest. It was almost too perfect. Almost too easy.

Funny. She thought that she would be ready when the time came, the time when everything had been tied neatly up in a box for completion. Ti Gold still sensed that she had other mysterious to be solved.

That was improvable.

BOOM

She stopped in the center of the trashed Arcade and turned in the direction of the noise that had emanated from the other side of the building.

BOOM

BOOM

Ti Gold was confused. Everything that could move on its own was now out of the building, besides her of course. It was highly unlikely that a robot had been left behind, since the only working robot left was Madeleine Marionette and she had been wheeled away in her box with the rest of the crew.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

Okay, this was really starting to unnerve the lean ghost. She tilted her head to the side and allowed her legs to reform, her arms unhooking themselves and hovering by her sides. No human being could cause such a ruckus with that much strength.

CRASH

The door came crushing down, tumbling with dust. Ti Gold could see a cloud of dust and musk coming from the Main Hallway as clunking and groaning noises began to emit from the passage way.  She shakily approached the oncoming chaos that was taking two shaky steps forward before a long metallic screech could be heard over and over again, closer and closer.

Clunk clunk screech.

Clunk clunk screech.

Clunk clunk screech.

It grew louder as the darkened building suddenly dropped thirty degrees below room temperature and actually gave the ghost a chill down her nonexistent spine. Something about the pattern of the footfalls felt so familiar…but she hadn’t heard anything like that in at least thirty years.

The source came out of the hallway and into the cafeteria, as if it sensed where Ti Gold was going to be.

Clunk clunk screech.

Clunk clunk screech.

Clunk clunk screech.

She saw the silhouette of the approaching figure and nearly identified it as a zombie due to its rugged appearance. It took a few more steps towards the Arcade’s entrance and entered the sunlight that escaped through the front entrance.

The thing was horrifying to look at. It had shaggy yellow hair that had burnt edges and pale yellow highlights from aging. Their face was aged to a burnt orange with red blood cheeks, face slashed with burnt edges to show an aged metallic face underneath. Both of its eyelids were singed at the edges but enough was left to help it indicate emotion.

It caught sight of Ti Gold in the shadows and arched its dusty eyelids in anger. The angry thing made its way towards her and Ti Gold couldn’t believe her nonexistent eyes.

What it wore was a white dress shirt, now stained with mold and yellowed with age, a long black skirt that went past its knees, with a huge rip near the center of it, and a black cardigan that was tied together at the thing’s naval with a tattered bow. Its eyes show silver-yellow LED lights that were very circular and had more circular designs crafted into its irises.

“You!” it spoke from its garbled mouth. The jaw barely had any fake skin left but all of the mouth’s teeth were still glued in place as the endoskeleton’s jaw was slightly crushed but not rusted.

Ti Gold felt the entire world come crashing down around her as she saw the thing in front of her. Memories from thirty years prior came to her mind, blurring together, making her loose her sense of reality.

This was impossible…she thought that everything had burned away…whatever had been left in the building was burnt beyond recognition…

“Ob…Gold?” Ti Gold nearly chocked on her own words.

“You!” the more incomplete robot said again. “You left me behind!”

Ti Gold put her hands up in a surrender gesture and stepped back, the lights in her eyes lit up in alarm, “Now Ob, I didn’t leave you-”

“LEAVE ME?!” Ob Gold roared and whipped over a long cable that was attached to her left arm socket with her disconnected hand at the end. “You left me before the performance, you left to chase off Delilah and left me and the entire crowd to burn! I tried to save a child and they ended up dying in my arms!”

That made Ti Gold feel as if a large steel pipe had been plunged through her hollow chest. She had thought that Delilah had only been killed in the fire and that Ob Gold had made it out with the rest of the staff and audience while she had kept Delilah in the back room.

“Delilah was evil!” Ti Gold defended herself. “She had a plot to murder the children and blame the other staff! That bitch tore me apart with a sledgehammer and pulled off my clothes and skin for her to wear before the performance began!”

Ob Gold only growled, “NO MORE EXCUSES! I’ve been sitting in the darkness for so long that I don’t give a crap about what phony-baloney justification you have cooked up after all this time! After all this time you still want to be an idiot?”

Anger, betrayal, sadness, fear, denial, doubt, and fury swirled around inside of Ti Gold as she felt the shadows stretch around her. She began to lose control of the situation as her mental wall began to crash.

“I didn’t mean to leave you behind,” she grounded out. “I thought that you would be able to make it out of there with everyone else.”

“You thought wrong! You went chasing out your selfish desires and people got hurt!”

“I tried to save everyone!”

“You failed!”

A violet glare flashed behind her angry eyes and Ti Gold instantly knew something that Ob Gold didn’t with cold dread.

“You…” Ti Gold stood up straighter and leaned forward. Her voice had grown dark and unemotional as the last bits of reality she had been holding together crumbled into fine dust.

The one, sole reason she had stayed behind to make sure no one else would be harmed. The reason why she had abandoned Ob Gold many years ago. Why she had decided to give the rest of her undead life to protect anymore children and robots alike from the company. Why she had put herself last and everything else that mattered first.

“How dare you return to me! How dare you come back to haunt us!” she yelled and dislocated her jaw to intimidate the purple presence inside of Ob Gold.

Ob Gold’s LEDs slowly changed from white to a deep purple gaze as her mouth angled itself to resemble a smirk. Her voice changed, became deeper, “Nice to see you two again, but I find that you being a ghost a tad harder for me to bear.”

Ti Gold growled, “Delilah.”

A crackling laugh escaped Ob Gold, “No one’s recognized me in thirty-four years, I’m a bit glad to see that my pursuer has managed to remember.”

The taller growled like a demonic bear, much like the animalistic version that she were based off of. Her burnt hands curled into fists as the burn marks grew over her figure, nearly making her completely black but with glowing white eyes and teeth that could strike fear into anyone.

Delilah only chuckled, “I see that I’m not the only one who’s learned a few tricks over the years. Despite all the hiding I’ve done inside of your little lover here-”

Ti Gold lunged, roaring a static-riddled battle cry as they tumbled to the floor. The light bulbs above them sparked and broke, glass flying everywhere. Arcade machines sprung to life and played solid runs through their games before crashing and reverting to a black screen with white binary code text filtering through it.

The ghost shook her possessed counterpart, “WHY?! WHY DO YOU DARE LIVE ON?!”

A purple energy surrounded Ob Gold as two vibrant claws stretched her jaws open wide to reveal a hidden flat face that most definably did not belong there.  

As Ti Gold roared again as the serpent within Ob Gold swirled out of her and tackled Ti Gold. It was a thin sheet of purple with four claws coming out of its back that had blue see-through rectangles dangling off of each of them. There was a vibrant hat on its head with long purple hair rolling straight out from under it. A bronze badge was pinned to its shirt and had a matching pin in the center of its hat.

Delilah opened her win, carnivorous mouth as she pinned Ti Gold to the floor. She cackled, “Did you know that we ghosts can only cause damage to ourselves? That means that I can do this!”

She raised a claw and slashed open Ti Gold’s torso. The darker let out a howl of pain in surprise as the darkness around her began to disappear. Ti Gold looked into Delilah’s dark eyes with the double purple loops embedded into them full of fear.

“Aww,” Delilah’s face softened up a bit. “What’s wrong? Afraid that I’m going to rip you apart again?”

Ti Gold growled up at her, feeling the flames flicker back to life, “Like Hell I’ll let you trash anymore lives.”

“So noble, so foolish,” she sliced at Ti Gold again.

Now Ti Gold didn’t know how to counter attack since this was the first time she had been hurt physically as a ghost and couldn’t find a way to shift the power of attack against Delilah.

She glanced behind the purple menace and saw Ob Gold standing still, devoid of life. Her partner was perfectly balanced and looking like a perfect statue. If she could keep the fight away from her then everything would turn out fine.

Ti Gold looked back at her opponent and glared, “Tis’ but a scratch.”

She then used her legs to pull her knees close to her chest and kick out at Delilah’s chest. The attack worked, sending the dead employee into the air and across the room.

Ti Gold got back up as Delilah hissed. During this moment of weakness, Ti Gold sprinted towards her and threw a punch at the purple gal’s face. Delilah went stumbling backwards on her ghostly tail and threw the Arcade’s wall.

The tall ghost set her hat down before also running through the wall to meet with her adversary. In the party room over, Delilah got back up yowled at her opponent. As she came back up to strike, Ti Gold put her thick arms up in a defensive position. Thin arms punched at her before the claws protruding from her back came around the defensive wall and swiped.

Ti Gold jumped back and grunted as Delilah took her chance to strike again.

The battle dragged on until the two were in the Security Office. Delilah picked up an old television set and threw it at Ti Gold but the golden ghost dodged to the side and threw another punch. Blue ectoplasm was filtering out of Delilah’s slit-shaped nostrils and around the corners of her eyes and mouth as black goo dripped heavily out of Ti Gold’s jaw. Both were exhausted at this point but one was more desperate.

Ti Gold came in for a final lunge and put her giant fist through Delilah’s chest. This time the old guard wasn’t able to dodge properly due to exhaustion and blue ectoplasm flew in all different directions.

Delilah gave a cough and more slime fell out of her mouth before Ti Gold twisted her fist like a corkscrew, pulling her closer to her.

“Do you think that this is funny now?” Ti Gold growled. “Do you think it was worth it to try and kill those children? Do you see where your lame goals have gotten you now?”

The purple gal choked as Ti Gold twisted her fist again.

“Everyone knows that people can’t die twice, but I’m willing to put that theory to the test.”

With another twist, Delilah collapsed to the floor as a pile of goo, ready to form again many years later.

Ti Gold shook her fist and took a step back before she also collapsed.

**Part 1 End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But let's just say it's not the end.


End file.
